Lewis Hamilton's biggest complaint over Charles Leclerc penalty has been perfectly proven as data emerges

Lewis Hamilton's biggest complaint about the FIA's decision to award Charles Leclerc a five-second penalty for their lap one incident at the Mexico City Grand Prix has been proven even further by new data.

Hamilton finished second in Mexico City behind Max Verstappen, with Leclerc eventually crossing the line in fourth. But the big drama occurred on the opening lap when Leclerc left the track and gained an advantage at turn four, having taken too much speed into the corner as he attempted to overtake Hamilton around the outside for first place.

Hamilton also went off the circuit but rejoined in the correct manner, falling behind Red Bull's Verstappen. But by his actions, Leclerc was able to take the lead and, because he was not ordered to give the position back, kept hold of it and pulled out a considerable advantage over Verstappen and Hamilton behind.

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Why Lewis Hamilton criticised the FIA over Charles Leclerc - and what the data shows

While Hamilton made his feelings clear about Leclerc's move on the first lap of the race, he was also highly critical over team radio of the FIA's decision to punish the Monegasque driver with only a five-second penalty. Under the FIA's regulations, a standard 10-second penalty is usually applied, but the stewards deemed there to be mitigating circumstances in that Hamilton also left the track.

Their decision meant that Hamilton was effectively dealt a double blow, in that he had to conserve his tyres in dirty air behind Verstappen while Leclerc was free to push on ahead.

By the time of their first pit stops, Leclerc had pulled out over eight seconds on Hamilton and, as race leader, was given pit stop priority. With Hamilton pitting a lap later, Leclerc was able to serve his five-second penalty and still be ahead of his team-mate by the time both drivers had stopped.

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Individual lap time data from the Mexico City Grand Prix has emerged which proves Hamilton's point perfectly. Across just three of the opening 26 laps - before both Ferraris pitted - was Hamilton faster than Leclerc, and one of those was on Leclerc's in-lap when he would have been slower in approaching the pit exit.

Conversely, when he had slightly more free air, Hamilton was quicker than Leclerc on the medium tyres for six consecutive laps, until he again held back to conserve his tyres.

Following the red flag, Hamilton was a cumulative 10 seconds quicker than Leclerc over the final 20 laps of the Grand Prix and set a faster lap time on every occasion - though the mitigating factor in that part of the race was that Leclerc had badly flat-spotted his front left tyre after a severe lock-up on the restart.

But those laps do show that, if the seven-time world champion had been in clean air for the first stint like Leclerc was, there would be no reason why Ferrari couldn't have secured a one-two.

What Lewis Hamilton said about Charles Leclerc during and after Mexico GP

After being told by race engineer Carlo Santi that Leclerc had been awarded a five-second penalty, Hamilton replied: "The problem with the five-second penalty is that he's got clean air. He doesn't have to manage like the rest of us. Should just give the positions back."

"The stewards have basically handed Charles this win. We agreed in the drivers' briefing."

"We, as a team, worked so hard," Hamilton said in his post-race press conference. "We could have easily had a one-two today. We had the pace to do so.

"We're going into turn four [in] first and second. If we just held position, I think anything can happen in the race. But when your team-mate works against you, and then you lose positions like that, it's definitely tough.

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"I think the core thing to remember, which maybe comes with age, is that every decision you make in the car impacts all the people who work in the background. The whole team. So working as a team is part of our job and part of our contract. We have to work as a team, which we could have easily done today.

"It's a shame to see us lose today, and that will just continue unless action is taken and a real, deep, serious conversation is had so it shouldn't happen moving forward."