Ralf Schumacher defended Lewis Hamilton.

      Ralf Schumacher defended Lewis Hamilton, who made a mistake during the Mexican Grand Prix while trying to defend his position from Max Verstappen, but it ended with a 10-second penalty. The former Formula 1 driver, analyzing the incident that took place at turn 4 of the circuit, believes the stewards handed Hamilton an overly harsh punishment. They judged that Lewis, having gone off track, gained an illegal advantage.

      Of course, partly because of that penalty the seven-time world champion finished only eighth, while Charles Leclerc, his teammate at Ferrari, finished second.

      "I thought Hamilton did quite well last weekend, although during the fight with Verstappen he made a number of mistakes because he was somewhat reckless," Ralf said while taking part in the Backstage Boxengasse podcast. "Is it wise to force a driver to stay on such a narrow strip of tarmac? Besides, the track in Mexico is very slippery. Clearly, Lewis's actions were not deliberate; he was simply doing everything he could to try to get back on track."

      In Schumacher's view, such incidents could be avoided if the grass were partially removed from the side of the track in the sequence of turns 4 and 5 and the runoff made wider: "Maybe it's worth considering paving that passage all the way to the tire barrier and removing that little strip of grass. In any case that passage is very narrow, so Lewis was a bit unlucky, and the penalty was quite severe."