Leclerc’s penalty in Mexico: “Surprised it was only five seconds”

Charles Leclerc talks about his five-second penalty in Mexico and explains that many circuits encourage drivers to exploit “grey areas” in the regulations

Charles Leclerc received a five-second penalty at the Mexican Grand Prix for gaining an advantage off the track whilst battling with Lewis Hamilton on the first lap. This penalty ultimately led to him losing the lead to Max Verstappen during his pit stop later on.

However: Leclerc still finished ahead of Hamilton, which raises the question of whether the five-second penalty was sufficient. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said of the situation shortly after the start: “The first thing that springs to mind is that this must be a penalty.”

“That’s the first thing that goes through your mind as a competitor in that moment. And that’s why we were certainly a bit surprised at how long it took for the penalty to be confirmed. And in a way, we were also surprised that it was only five seconds.”

“Because Charles probably already had a five-second lead over Lewis by the time this penalty was imposed. So it seemed a bit lenient to me. But it is what it is,” said the Red Bull team principal.

In fact, the race stewards explain in their ruling that Leclerc would actually have received a ten-second penalty. However, mitigating circumstances applied because Hamilton, in the other Ferrari, also went off the track himself. The penalty was therefore reduced to five seconds.

Leclerc: The tracks are the problem

Leclerc himself says of the incident in Mexico: “If you stick strictly to the rules, this situation isn’t all that different from other situations. I do agree, though. Sometimes there are scenarios where one gains more than the other.”

However, Leclerc emphasises that “on paper” the rules do not provide for harsher penalties, and so he explains: “I think, ultimately, we simply need circuits where we cannot play around with such limits and grey areas.”

The Ferrari driver therefore openly admits that drivers deliberately push the rules to the limit, “and I’m sure many people will view that very negatively, which I can understand,” says Leclerc. “But that’s just the way it is,” he says of the current regulatory situation.

In his view, however, we shouldn’t start revising the regulations now, but simply adapt the circuits so that it’s no longer possible to gain an advantage off the track. In Mexico in particular, this has been a recurring issue for years.

“The fact is that these rules can create grey areas on some circuits. […] We discussed this at the drivers’ briefing on Thursday. Ultimately, I think we’re of the opinion that the definitive solution is to have a circuit where something like this isn’t possible,” said Leclerc.