Why Charles Leclerc maintained his lead in the Mexico GP despite exceeding the track limits at Turn 5

Ultimately, Leclerc stayed ahead of his competitors, receiving a five-second penalty for the infringement.

“Lewis and I both attempted to brake very late, neither of us made the corner, I obviously cut the track,” the Monegasque recounted.

“Eventually after Turn 5, Max was in between us, which complicated matters further. And after speaking with the team, I didn’t receive clear feedback, and it seemed confusing enough to hold onto my position, and I was expecting some sort of penalty. Then we received the penalty.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

“We had a brief discussion with the team to try and figure out what to do. I asked, ‘What should I do now?’ It’s always quite challenging – clearly in that scenario, you need to take action, but is it for second, or third? In the end, I just kept going. It’s definitely going to be a topic of discussion, for sure, in the next briefing.”

This decision did not sit well with Hamilton, who voiced his frustrations to race engineer Carlo Santi over the radio. “The issue is he has clean air and doesn’t have to manage like the rest of us. He should just give the position back,” he stated regarding Leclerc, before reiterating: “The stewards are basically gifting Charles this win.”

Regardless of Leclerc’s contentious decision to maintain the lead, the incident between the teammates occurred during a season marked by sporadic tensions between Ferrari drivers.

When questioned about the rules of engagement within the team, the 29-year-old downplayed the incident: “I mean, we are contending for the win, so undoubtedly there’s going to be very little margin from both him and me. [In] the end, we both made a mistake going into Turn 4; it’s not like we had contact or anything. We both went straight and that allowed Max to overtake.”

“I don’t believe it should be such a significant discussion point. Of course, it was close, especially from Turn 1 to 3, but I anticipated that, [in a] battle for the lead. For [Turn] 5, we both erred, I paid with a penalty, and then you can debate whether it was sufficient or not. And Lewis then lost out after [Turn] 5 to Max.”

When asked if he and Hamilton needed clearer rules moving forward, Leclerc contemplated: “We will certainly discuss it. I’m not sure if he was particularly unhappy with what I did because I felt his actions were also quite close to the limit. I think he might have been more frustrated with the entire situation, including how things unfolded in [Turns] 4-5 with the penalty, etc. So this is definitely something we’ll address.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

From that point, Leclerc focused on distancing himself from Verstappen to lessen the effects of his penalty. He extended the gap to 5.243 seconds by the conclusion of lap 24, but when he pitted – with the Red Bull following him – the Dutchman had reduced his deficit by a few tenths.

Ultimately, this had no impact on the result. Leclerc’s pit stop took 6.3 seconds longer than Verstappen’s, with 1.3 seconds unaccounted for by the penalty, allowing the four-time world champion to take the lead comfortably.

Leclerc’s race took a turn for the worse at the second start following the red flag caused by Valtteri Bottas’ crash, as he experienced a significant lock-up that damaged the SF-26’s tires – particularly the front-left.

“I believe we had quite solid pace, but unfortunately, things became more challenging during the second restart,” he lamented.

“There were quite a few marbles on the right side of the track, and when I applied the brakes, even though I didn’t apply excessive pressure, I locked up immediately and went over the edge of the tires. So the last stint was quite difficult.”

Leclerc ultimately finished fourth under the checkered flag, still achieving a sixth consecutive top-four finish.