Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc shared his thoughts on his opening-lap battle with Lewis Hamilton, the decision to not give the position back after going off the track, the impact of his lock-up at the restart, intra-team rules of engagement, and whether he should receive a harsher penalty in the future following his fourth-place finish at the 2026 Mexico City GP on Sunday.
How the race unfolded for Leclerc
Unable to put the lap together on his final run in Q3, Leclerc only managed to qualify in third, despite having the potential to grab pole.
As the lights went out, the Monégasque got a strong launch off the line on the softest compound and passed George Russell. He then challenged his teammate for the lead, and the pair ran side-by-side through the opening turns, with Hamilton just holding the advantage.
As the Brit went defensive again into Turn 4, Leclerc swept to the outside when the Ferrari duo went side by side into the braking zone once more.
While the 29-year-old braked too late and would’ve missed the corner, Hamilton left him no space and went beyond the white lines himself. Avoiding contact, he decided to head across the grass to take the lead.
However, Max Verstappen managing to jump Hamilton prevented any chance for Leclerc to give the 7-time World Champion the position back. On Lap 12, the stewards handed him a 5-second penalty for cutting the track and gaining a lasting advantage. A 10-second penalty wasn’t applied since his teammate had gone off the track as well.
The 9-time race winner pitted on Lap 27 to switch to medium tyres and serve his penalty. Verstappen also made his pit stop on the same lap, rejoining ahead of the Ferrari driver.
Valtteri Bottas experienced a suspension failure on Lap 45 and triggered the red flag. At the restart, Hamilton managed to get ahead of Leclerc, who then locked up at Turn 1, flat spotting a tyre that caused severe vibrations on his car. He lost a position to Kimi Antonelli as well.
Although the error dropped him out of the podium places, Leclerc defended hard to fend off Lando Norris and crossed the line in P4.
Leclerc on his Lap 1 fight with Hamilton and the penalty received at the 2026 Mexico City GP
Speaking in the print media pen after the 71-lap F1 race, Charles Leclerc revealed whether he opted to go all out at the start since he had found overtaking really difficult during the second hour of practice on Friday.
The Monte Carlo native described how he saw an opportunity to take the lead at the start and put pressure on Hamilton through the opening turns. He also touched on how both had failed to keep their cars on the track at Turn 4 and the dilemma of ceding the position with Verstappen running in second place.
Revealing that he was anticipating a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage following his Lap 1 battle with Hamilton, Leclerc admitted that his poor restart at the 2026 Mexico City GP on Lap 47 had rendered his strong pace useless in the final stages of the race.
“I mean, it was definitely an opportunity. In Turn 1, there was a gap on the outside, and I had quite a lot of speed around the outside of Turn 1. Then, there was very little space for Turn 2, which is expected for the win obviously.
“And then [at Turns] 4-5, Lewis [Hamilton] and I both tried to brake very late; we both didn’t make the corner. I obviously cut the track. Eventually then after Turn 5, there was Max [Verstappen] in between, which made the situation more confusing.
“And speaking with the team, I didn’t really have a clear feedback, and I think it was just confusing enough to keep the position. And I was expecting some kind of penalty. Then we paid the penalty.
“I think we had quite a good pace. But unfortunately on the second restart, everything went a bit more difficult.”
The effect of the lock-up at the restart and pit stop strategy
As to whether he would’ve preferred to receive more guidance from the Ferrari pit wall and if it was primarily his decision to carry on and compensate for the 5-second penalty on the track, Charles Leclerc stated that he had a brief conversation with the team to assess the potential outcomes. He emphasised that it was a tricky scenario and that he didn’t want to relinquish too many positions.
“We spoke briefly with the team to try and understand. I asked what should I do now. And it’s always very tricky.
“Obviously, in that situation, you kind of expect you have to do something, but is it second? Is it third? Is it fourth?
“Well, fourth probably didn’t make sense, but a second or third, and yeah, in the end, I kept going. Obviously, it’s going to be a bit of a talking point for sure at the next briefing.”
Leclerc also went on to explain what had caused him to lock up at the Lap 47 restart from P2 on the grid and how critical the condition of his left-front tyre was for the remaining laps at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
“Yeah, there was quite a lot of marbles on the right side of the track. When I went on the brake, even though I didn’t put a massive amount of brake pressure, I locked up straight away and I went to the cord of the tyres. The last stint was very tricky.”
Asked if he should’ve pitted a lap earlier to avoid traffic, the Monégasque responded, “It’s a difficult one; with hindsight, maybe, but I don’t think it would’ve changed much.”
Leclerc reveals whether Ferrari had established any rules of engagement before the Mexico City GP
With regard to whether Ferrari had set some rules of engagement pre-Mexico City GP or whether they were free to race each other, Leclerc underlined once more how both he and Hamilton had refused to yield since they were fighting for the lead and a potential win.
Pointing out that there was no contact between the drivers, the 29-year-old reiterated how they had both made a mistake going into Turn 4 and thereby allowed Verstappen to gain a position.
Maintaining that the opening-lap incident shouldn’t be blown out of proportion, Leclerc noted how he had gotten his due with the penalty and added that the argument should be limited to whether the punishment was adequate. He also drew attention to how Hamilton had paid for his own mistake of going wide at Turn 4 by being overtaken by Verstappen at the exit of Turn 5.
“I mean, we are fighting for the win, and so, of course, there’s going to be very little margin left from him and from me. At the end, we both did a mistake going into Turn 4. It’s not like we had contact or whatsoever. We both went straight, and that gave the opportunity for Max to overtake.
“So yeah, I don’t think it should be that much of a talking point. Of course, it was close; Turns 1, 2, and 3 was very close, but I was expecting [us] to fight for the lead. [At Turns] 4-5, we both made a mistake that I paid with a penalty. Then you can argue whether it’s enough or not. And Lewis then paid out of [Turn] 5 with Max.”
Whether Ferrari should put clear rules of engagement in place going forward
Furthermore, Charles Leclerc referred to the drivers’ briefing held on Thursday and stated that they need to change the layout of the tracks to make the guidelines simpler and prevent such risky manoeuvres on the inside.
“I think honestly we’ve been speaking about it all Thursday at the drivers’ briefing trying to understand in which way should we best take a decision with that.
“I think the conclusion of everyone is that we first need probably to change the tracks and make sure that there’s no places or tracks where you can take those amounts of risk in the inside. If there was obviously a wall at the exit of Turn 4, neither Lewis or I would have pushed the braking point that much.
“So, I think there’s some things that we can improve track-wise in order to make it more simple. Because otherwise, it’s very complicated.”
In terms of whether the Scuderia should put concrete rules of engagement in place going forward, Leclerc maintained that both he and Hamilton were aggressive on the opening lap of the 2026 Mexico City GP. He also reckoned that his teammate was more frustrated over the outcome of the penalty than the battle itself.
“We will talk about it, obviously.
“I don’t know if he was very unhappy with what I did, because I felt like it was very much on the limit also what he did. I think he was maybe more angry with the whole situation, how the situation was dealt in [Turns] 4 and 5 with the penalty, etc. So, this is something we’ll talk about for sure.”
Leclerc weighs in on his 2026 Mexico City GP penalty and whether it should be harsher in the future
Asked if he should receive a harsher penalty in the future for leaving the track and not relinquishing the position gained, Charles Leclerc agreed with the observation but argued that the rules should be uniform.
Bringing up that cutting the corner and keeping the position is more advantageous at certain tracks than others, Leclerc restated post-Mexico City GP that the configuration of those circuits should undergo changes to discourage drivers from exploiting the grey areas of the current guidelines.
“Yeah, but there are also rules written and that’s a bit of a difficult thing as well. This situation, if you take it by the rule, is not so different to other situations.
“However, I do agree with you. Sometimes there are scenarios in which you gain more than the other, but on paper, the way you describe it, you’ve got to stick with rules.
“I think eventually we just need tracks that doesn’t allow us to play with those kind of limits in the grey areas, because then it ends up being a bit of a difficult one. And I’m sure many people will see it in a very bad way, which I understand. But it’s the way it is.”
What would discourage the drivers from committing these violations for good
In reference to George Russell opting to take a 5-second time penalty rather than handing the position back to Alex Albon in Monte Carlo last year and the drivers risking harsher penalties for similar violations this season, Charles Leclerc insisted that these rules are track-specific at the moment and that redesigning the layouts should put the controversy to bed.
“Yes, in Monaco for sure. I don’t think it was a general thing for everywhere.
“But again, I’m not completely disagreeing. It’s just that those rules can have some reasons on some tracks.
“Like today, we knew it, we kind of spoke about it on Thursday with the drivers at the driver briefing. Eventually, I think that the final solution is to have a track that doesn’t allow you to do that.”
