Charles Leclerc Penalty Explained: Why Stewards Chose Five Seconds in Mexico City, Not 10

FIA stewards gave Charles Leclerc a five-second penalty, instead of the standard 10, for passing Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton off the track on the opening lap of the Mexico City GP on Sunday. The stewards pointed to two mitigating circumstances. The ruling left Hamilton unhappy, and Ferrari now has to settle the matter before the São Paulo Grand Prix.

The standard penalty for the offense is 10 seconds, the stewards said in their ruling. However, they noted that “in mitigation is the fact that car 44 was also off track on the inside of car 16, and this occurred early in the first lap.”

How the Turn 4 Battle Unfolded Between the Ferrari Duo

Hamilton started on pole with Leclerc third on the grid. The two Ferraris ran side by side through the opening corners before Leclerc swung around the outside at Turn 4. He ran wide across the grass and rejoined in front after Turn 5, while Hamilton also drifted wide and let Red Bull’s Max Verstappen slide into second.

The FIA had warned teams before the race that a driver who left the track at the early corners and kept his place could be hit with a lasting-advantage ruling. A driver in Leclerc’s spot had to hand the position back by Turn 12. He didn’t, so the stewards stepped in.

“The Stewards have determined that both cars entered Turn 4 with excessive speed and therefore neither would have been able to make the corner on track,” the statement read.

Hamilton, on the inside, had to run off the track to get through. That left Leclerc with no right to claim the corner, and finishing the pass off the track earned him the penalty.

The five seconds still hurt. Leclerc dropped behind Verstappen at his first stop, before a red flag for Valtteri Bottas’ crash. Verstappen went on to win ahead of Hamilton and newly crowned champion Kimi Antonelli, with Leclerc fourth.

Hamilton and Verstappen Question the Call While Charles Leclerc Accepts It

Hamilton objected over the radio as soon as he heard the news. He said Leclerc would sit in clean air and wouldn’t have to manage his race like everyone behind him.

“The stewards have basically handed Charles this win,” he said later, reminding the team that the drivers had agreed on the rule in the briefing

Hamilton took a 10-second penalty for a similar incident at last year’s race in Mexico City, and that added to his frustration. The lap times back up part of his case. Leclerc led him by more than eight seconds by the first stops, then served his five seconds and still came out ahead.

Verstappen questioned the math too. “Normally, that penalty is 10 seconds, and now suddenly it’s five,” he said after the race. He called the switch strange, but said the result stayed the same for him.

Leclerc didn’t fight the ruling. “The penalty was deserved in a way,” he said, explaining that neither car made Turn 4 and that he asked the team what to do. With Verstappen now second, he decided the place was worth keeping.

“I paid with a penalty, then you can argue whether it’s enough or not,” Leclerc said. He added that Hamilton also lost out when he ran wide out of Turn 5 and Verstappen passed him.

Leclerc says he and Hamilton will talk it over, and Hamilton wants a serious conversation inside the team. Ferrari leads Red Bull by 124 points in the fight for second in the constructors’ standings, so it has room to absorb the squabble. The team races next in São Paulo from November 6-8.

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