1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve has defended the decision which saw Lewis Hamilton handed a "deserved" 10-second time penalty in Mexico.
The seven-time world champion had qualified in third at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, offering Hamilton his best opportunity yet of a grand prix podium for Ferrari.
However, a messy opening phase to the race saw Hamilton's rostrum hopes quickly end, following a battle with Max Verstappen.
Verstappen dived down the inside of Hamilton at the first corner on lap six, before the fight continued through turns two, three and into four, where it all went wrong for the Ferrari driver.
Hamilton locked up at Turn 4 and shot across the escape road and onto the grass, before rejoining the circuit a comfortable distance ahead of Verstappen.
The 40-year-old failed to relinquish the position or the time he had gained, resulting in a 10-second time penalty which was served at his first stop.
The punishment left Hamilton frustrated, although Villeneuve believes the correct decision was made by the stewards.
Asked if the penalty was fair, Villeneuve responded on the Sky F1 podcast: "Yeah, the deserved penalty. It sounds tough 10 seconds, and it was a lot in that race.
"But the problem is, he couldn't give the place back to Max, obviously. Had he not cut across the track, he would have lost a position or two the way he had gone wide anyway.
"The problem is he [rejoined] 100 metres [ahead] with a 100-metre lead and just kept it. That's a huge advantage on the whole pack, not just on gaining a position or not, and that was the big issue.
"And he didn't even try and or bother to actually slow down a bit."
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