Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has criticised the FIA stewards for a "not very well-managed" opening phase to the Mexico City Grand Prix, which saw Lewis Hamilton handed a "very harsh" penalty whilst others avoided punishment.
The seven-time F1 drivers' champion was handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage during his lap 6 battle with Max Verstappen, which ran all to way from Turn 1 to Turn 4, where he went off and stayed ahead.
The pair were absolved of any wrongdoing for their clash at the first couple of corners, which saw contact between them and the Red Bull taking to the grass, and Hamilton was investigated and acquitted for not following the race director's notes and using the designated escape road at Turn 4.
However, by cutting across the grass and staying ahead of the Verstappen-Ollie Bearman-George Russell melee behind, he was penalised.
Hamilton was unhappy with the punishment, which he served at his first pit stop and was in line with the rulebook.
It also would have been difficult to hand the position back, given the Haas had taken advantage of the situation and was then running between the Ferrari and the Red Bull.
The Briton's frustration was put to Vasseur in his post-race press conference with media, including RacingNews365, in which the 57-year-old quickly interjected: "Me too."
Reflecting on the punishment, he added: "It cost us P4. One thing is the penalty, for sure, that we didn't follow the race director's notes. But 10 seconds, I don't remember when someone took 10 seconds.
"If you consider, if you have the global picture, saying that Max cut the corner before, he cut the chicane, in the grass, 100 metres. I think it's not very well-managed, honestly."
The Frenchman felt the penalty was not befitting the crime, and argued the consequence was disproportionate to the incident itself.
"Because you are in Mexico, on top of this... I don't say that you have to adapt the penalty to the track, but you have to understand what you are doing," he explained.
"He [Hamilton] took the 10 seconds. This dropped us at the back of the group, and we can't overtake.
"[If] it's after the pitstop that you have no issue to recover. This cost us, probably P4, even with the five seconds; I think we were still P4. But with 10 seconds..."
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Vasseur: Hamilton penalty 'very harsh'
Assessing the round at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on the whole, Vasseur was pleased with the pace shown.
He felt Charles Leclerc's second-place finish was just reward, despite the half-minute margin to race winner Lando Norris being the biggest winning gap in over two years.
However, he reiterated his belief that Hamilton's penalty was "very harsh" considering the circumstances.
"I think overall it was a good weekend," the Ferrari boss said when speaking to Sky Sports Germany.
"We had a very strong pace yesterday in quali with P2 and P3, and today I think that Lando was a step ahead at least, and it was difficult to imagine doing better than P2."
"The downside, or the negative side, is probably the penalty. I found the penalty a bit harsh — 10 seconds is very, very harsh because this dropped us behind all the group, and in Mexico it’s so difficult to overtake that this cost us."
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