Ralf Schumacher gives his honest opinion on Lewis Hamilton's incident with Max Verstappen during the F1 Mexican GP

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had a frantic on-track battle at the Mexican GP, but the Briton came off as the worst-affected party from the fight as he received a 10-second penalty for his actions later in the lap. Subsequently, reflecting on the incident between the former championship rivals, Ralf Schumacher shared his take on the whole saga and asserted that the penalty that Hamilton received was "pretty severe."

After trying to defend third place since the start of the race, lap six of the Mexican GP saw the former rivals coming together. Verstappen lunged up the inside of Hamilton at turn one and moved up the road.

But in an attempt to regain track position, the Briton had tried to reovertake Verstappen at turn four, a failed move that resulted in him locking up and cutting across the grass to rejoin the track. However, this re-entry was viewed with grim eyes by the stewards, as he had not used the correct escape maneuver and simply cut across the grass.

Subsequently, he was handed a 10-second penalty for his actions, but not all agreed with it, as even Schumacher said (via RN365):

"I also thought Hamilton had a good weekend, but in the fight with Verstappen he made some mistakes, a bit impetuous. But is it really that wise to force a driver to stay on that narrow stretch of asphalt? After all, it is super slippery there. He certainly didn't do that on purpose when he tried with all his might to come back." "It is so thin anyway and runs away to the left of the track. So it was a little unfortunate and the penalty was pretty severe."

Lewis Hamilton then served this penalty when he came into the pits and ultimately finished P8 at the checkered flag.

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Lewis Hamilton asserts that rejoining the track through the escape road was out of bounds for him

Lewis Hamilton driving the Ferrari SF-25 at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico - Source: Getty

Lewis Hamilton had qualified on the front row for the first time this year. Moreover, he was looking to possibly get on the podium for the first time as a Ferrari driver with a solid opportunity lying in front of him.

However, the pace of his rivals and the 10-second penalty saw him out of contention for a solid result. So, reflecting on the race, the seven-time champion said (via F1's official website):

"It was fun at the start and didn’t end up the way I had hoped, but it's motor racing."

Asked whether he could have taken the escape road to get back on track, Lewis Hamilton replied:

"No. It’s very dirty offline, and I did the best I could to bring the car back to the track safely, and that’s all I could hope for."

Hamilton still has four more race weekends to potentially grab a podium finish for Ferrari in his maiden year as a Scuderia driver.

Edited by Geetansh Pasricha