Lewis Hamilton has criticised Formula 1’s governing body for a perceived lack of transparency and accountability following his penalty in the Mexico City Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver was handed a 10-second time penalty after an early-race scrap with Max Verstappen at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez two weeks ago.
On Lap 6, Hamilton locked up at Turn 4, cut across the grass, and rejoined the track. He was later penalised, a call that dropped him from podium contention to eighth place.
Speaking prior to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Hamilton said he has received no explanation, which he contends has contributed to the uproar surrounding stewarding decisions.
“Not particularly,” he told media including Motorsport Week when asked whether he had been given clarity by the FIA.
“There isn’t any clarity, and I think that’s probably a part of the big issue. Transparency and accountability. And also kind of like the secrecy that decisions are made in the background.”
Hamilton believes the lack of openness has wider consequences.
“I think it’s something that definitely needs to be tackled. But it’s probably something that needs to be done in the background, I would imagine,” he continued.
“Yeah, I don’t know if they’re aware of the weight of their decisions. You know, they ultimately steer careers.
“[They] can decide results of championships, as you’ve seen in the past. So yeah, some work needs to be done there, I’m sure.”
Russell echoes Hamilton complaints over stewarding
Hamilton’s ex-Mercedes team-mate George Russell echoed his compatriot’s frustration about the stewarding and the layout of Mexico’s opening sequence of corners.
“Yeah, I mean, I was very, very surprised to see, you know, those drivers get away without penalty,” Russell added.
“I think when you look at Monza, if you miss the chicane, you’ve got to go through the polystyrene blocks and you lose a lot of time.
“I think the only solution, unless you were to just gravel that whole section, would be, I personally don’t like that corner at all. I don’t think it’s good for racing.”
Russell argued that the design of Turns 2 and 3 makes it impossible for fair side-by-side racing.
“Turn 2 and Turn 3, there’s only one single racing line, so you can’t battle into Turn 1 and then continue the battle down to Turn 4,” he explained.
“As you can at a circuit like Bahrain, as an example, when you can cut back on somebody and you fight down to Turn 4. There’s no track limits issues.”
He revealed that the topic had even come up before the race weekend.
“With a race start, as it’s a hairpin, you will never cut the corner.
“So we actually briefly spoke about it before the race weekend. I personally think that that corner just needs to change entirely,” he said.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen responds to Lewis Hamilton’s ‘double standards’ claim after F1 Mexico GP penalty
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