Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has defended Lewis Hamilton after the Briton's Mexico City Grand Prix incident at Turn 4, which saw him receive a "severe" punishment.
Hamilton started in third and remained there for the opening laps, before falling behind Max Verstappen. While battling the Dutchman, Hamilton locked up and went off at Turn 4, causing him to cut across the grass.
The seven-time world champion rejoined ahead of his 2021 rival, resulting in a 10-second time penalty for leaving the circuit and gaining an advantage.
However, he was also investigated for failing to follow the race director's instructions, in regard to how to correctly rejoin the track in that section.
A small asphalt path was put in place to be used by drivers should they go off at Turn 4, something Hamilton failed to do due to the speed he held when the error was made.
Ultimately, the stewards recognised that Hamilton could not safely rejoin the circuit via the small path. Nevertheless, the penalty ruined his race, while Charles Leclerc finished in second.
Schumacher defended Hamilton for not taking to the asphalt path, and questioned if it was even the correct solution to be put in place.
"I also thought Hamilton had a good weekend, but in the fight with Verstappen he made some mistakes, a bit impetuous," Schumacher said on the Backstage Boxengasse podcast.
"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."
In Schumacher's opinion, a solution to improving a driver's ability to rejoin in that Turn 4/5 section would be to asphalt more of the grass, to widen the path.
"Maybe they should consider asphalting that stretch up to the tyre stacks and taking away the little grass strip," added Schumacher.
"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."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Sam Coop, Fergal Walsh and Nick Golding, as they look back on last weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix. Lando Norris' crushing victory is a lead talking point, as is Max Verstappen keeping himself firmly in title contention.
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