George Russell hit out at what he branded a lap-one “lawnmower race”, Lewis Hamilton described his 10-second penalty for later corner cutting as “just nuts”, while other drivers voiced frustration with decisions amid controversy at the Mexico City Grand Prix – but what to actually make of it all?
Mercedes’ Russell, who had qualified fourth but finished seventh in a difficult race, was angered at the start after seeing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen go off across the grass in the opening complex of corners and rejoin the track still in leading positions without a subsequent penalty.
Russell likened it to “allowing you to risk everything and you just have a get-out-of-jail-free card if you get it wrong”, before adding: “It’s like a lawnmower race. Something needs to change there.”
Other drivers also cut the opening corners further back in the pack, which a similarly-unimpressed Fernando Alonso labelled a “little bit unfair” after no penalties were applied.
Meanwhile, in wake of the early corner-cutting going without sanction, Hamilton felt he was then harshly treated in receiving a 10-second penalty on lap six. The Ferrari driver ran off track and then went straight across the grass at Turn Four, gaining position, when in battle with Verstappen over third place.
With debate over the rights and wrongs of the incidents continuing in the days after the race, the incidents proved talking points on the latest edition of The F1 Show, featuring former F1 drivers Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve alongside host Simon Lazenby.
Listen to the full episode below as the trio discuss all the major moments from Mexico after a race, won dominantly by Lando Norris, which has also provided a new leader in the tense title race with four events of the season remaining.
Should there have been penalties for corner-cutting at start?
After going off during the first corner having going three abreast with Verstappen and Hamilton into the braking zone, Leclerc initially returned to the track out of Turn Three ahead of Norris in the lead. He swiftly let the McLaren back through, although stayed ahead of team-mate Hamilton.
Verstappen, meanwhile, initially rejoined ahead of Hamilton before dropping back behind him to fourth. But Russell felt the Red Bull driver should have ceded a place to him too.
Stewards ruled no action was warranted on the first lap.
Asked if he felt either Leclerc or Verstappen should have had a penalty for the start, 1997 world champion Villeneuve said: “Max not because he was ahead of Russell anyway and he gave all the places back. So that was fine.
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On the F1 Podcast, Simon Lazenby is joined by Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve to discuss whether Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc should have been given a penalty after corner-cutting in Mexico.
“Leclerc, yes, because he was actually behind Lewis [at Turn One]. He didn’t even try to make the corner, he stepped on it and realised ‘oh, it’s my team-mate, nothing will happen to me’.”
Asked if he agreed with Villeneuve that Leclerc deserved a penalty, Brundle replied: “100 per cent yes. Max should have had a penalty [also].
“If you put your car on the far left in four abreast it will go on the kerb, but Max had no intention. You can see him actually accelerate – really skilful driving through the grass, I must say – but Max made no effort whatsoever to take turns one, two or three and that should have been a penalty.”
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Lando Norris holds off the Ferrari pair as teammate Oscar Piastri drops places and Max Verstappen runs wide at the Mexico Grand Prix.
Responding to Brundle’s comments, Villeneuve added: “I only half disagree. The thing is, intent is one thing, and we cannot really put intent in the rules, it’s difficult. I was just going by the rules: by the rules [Verstappen] was ahead of George, let [Hamilton] back, so by the rules it didn’t deserve a penalty.
“By the action, yes, so how do you proceed? Do you follow the rules or you go with what we know is right and wrong? And right now you just have to go with the rules because the rules have been put in the place, and the rules are actually very badly written.”
How to avoid more Turn One chaos in Mexico in future?
“The problem is that corner,” said Villeneuve.
“If you have gravel there or a wall, you wouldn’t be four-wide. You’d be two-wide maybe and everyone else would back off because they would know there is not an escape road.
“Now they think ‘oh, it doesn’t matter, if I just brake way too late, I might be ahead, I’ll come out ahead, maybe I’ll let them by or not – nothing lost, it’s worth the risk’. That’s why we have these crazy first corners on that track, that is an issue we will have every year. Just drivers dive-bombing on the outside knowing they can just go straight.”
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George Russell expresses his frustration at the Mexico City GP start, which saw three drivers go off track and avoid any punishment.
Brundle added: “The geography out there [off track at T1] is just hopeless. It needs zones, it needs a place you’ve got to pass through. Maybe even a zone where you have to proceed at pit-lane speed limit for 100 metres or 50 metres or something to really make it almost a big a deterrent as a barrier in Monaco, and then they won’t go out there. It’s as simple as that.”
He added that he had sympathy for those complaining about corner-cutting going unpunished.
“I can completely understand those drivers that were minding their business and actually staying on the race track going ‘hang on, I’m losing out here, I might as well just make my own race track up in the first two corners and gain some places,'” said Brundle.
Was Hamilton’s 10-second penalty fair?
The Sky Sports F1 pundits also had their say on the scale of the penalty Hamilton received for cutting Turn Four on lap six, which dropped the Briton down the order when he served it at his first pit stop. He eventually finished eighth.
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Karun Chandhok analyses whether Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton’s 10 second penalty for his wheel-to-wheel battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fairly given.
Stewards said they imposed the “standard penalty” on the Ferrari driver for the offence as laid out in F1’s penalty guidelines. The document, which the FIA publicly released in June, states that the level of sanction for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage in a race is a “10s penalty (baseline) up to drive through”, although a lesser five-second penalty can be imposed if “mitigating circumstances” are deemed to be present in an incident.
Brundle said: “Lewis had a big advantage and didn’t really go to a lot of trouble, did he, to back up and hand it back again, either the position or 100-200 metres or something. So unless there are mitigating circumstances that has to be a 10-second not a five-second penalty. So that’s my clarity as far as my brain is concerned, but others will disagree no doubt.”
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Watch all angles of Lewis Hamilton’s wheel-to-wheel clash with Max Verstappen, which landed the Ferrari driver a 10-second penalty.
Villeneuve added: “Deserved penalty. It sounds tough, 10 seconds, and it was a lot in that race. He couldn’t give the place back to Max, obviously [because Verstappen had been overtaken by Bearman at the next corner] and had he not cut across the track he would have lost a position or two the way he had gone wide anyway.
“The problem was he got out with a 100-metre lead and just kept it; that’s a huge advantage on the whole pack not just gaining a position or not, and that was the big issue.”
Formula 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Sprint weekend at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on November 7-9, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
