Charles Leclerc was penalised after a clash with Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton at the Mexican Grand Prix. The fact that it was five seconds, rather than 10, irked the Brit in a major way.

The FIA stewards have moved to explain their decision.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc clash triggers FIA penalty

While Leclerc did complete an overtake off the track, it was noted that Hamilton also was not capable of making the corner, both Ferraris going into Turn 1 with “excessive speed”.

Hamilton at the time accused the stewards of “handing” his teammate a win. Max Verstappen ultimately took the chequered flag.

It was a good start from Hamilton after his first Ferrari pole, but Leclerc, having cleared Russell, was on the attack against the sister red machine.

Into Turn 4, Leclerc was on the attack around the outside. Both drivers went deep, Leclerc cutting over the grass and re-joining ahead, in the lead.

“Got pushed out by my own teammate,” was Hamilton’s verdict over the radio, having also lost out to Verstappen.

The drivers had been warned pre-race that corner-cutting at the start would be ruled over with an iron fist in Mexico this year.

However, the stewards gave Leclerc a downgraded five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

“The stewards are basically handing Charles this win. We agreed, in the drivers’ briefing.” Hamilton’s stance was clear.

“Ha! I thought all the new penalties were 10s,” was Verstappen’s response on the FIA verdict over Red Bull team radio.

The stewards moved to explain why Leclerc’s penalty was downgraded to five-seconds, citing Hamilton’s comparable lack of control into Turn 4 as the mitigating factor.

The explanation reads: “The stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence.

“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, as demonstrated by the fact that car 44 which was on the inside, had to go off track to make the corner.

“Car 16 was therefore not entitled to claim the corner due to the excessive entry speed.

“The driver then completed an overtake whilst off track and accordingly this warrants a penalty.

“The baseline penalty guideline is 10 seconds, however, 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.”

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Leclerc’s penalty saw him lose the net race lead to Verstappen. After Safety Car and red flag twists, Verstappen was the eventual Mexican Grand Prix winner ahead of Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli, who was crowned the new youngest Formula 1 world champion of all time.

The Italian sensation secured the final podium spot with an overtake on Leclerc, who dropped off after a costly lock-up at the race restart, eventually finishing fourth.