First lap incident let down the team admits Fred Vasseur as he admits that he has to take action.

Whatever the rights and wrongs, they will be discussed behind closed doors, but they will be discussed.

Fact is that Ferrari missed out on an almost certain victory in Mexico because, not for the first time, the team's drivers put self-interest before the team.

"Honestly, I'm a bit frustrated because we did a proper step forward in terms of performance the last couple of events," Vasseur told reporters post-race.

"We were 1-2 at Turn 4," he added. "When you are 1-2 at Turn 4, you don't imagine that you won't win the race.

"It's a lot of frustration for me, but I'm not the most important," he continued, "it's a lot of frustration for the 2,000 people working for the project. And this I will need time to digest."

Leclerc had tried to blame the track's layout for the incident, insisting that the sport needs tracks which "don't allow us to play with those kinds of limits and grey areas", however, that doesn't wash with Vasseur.

"The layout of the track, for sure it's not helping, because if you have a look the last couple of years we had this kind of issue," he explained, "but it can't be an excuse at all.

"We can discuss ages for this," he continued, "but it's not a matter to discuss before if you are on the right-hand side, if you are the left-hand side. It's a matter of respect.

Asked if he feels his drivers need to be reminded that it is the interests of the team that comes first, he said: "This is typically what means respect, that they are not working for themselves, they are working for a group, they are working for a lot of sponsors, they are working for the 2,000 people of the company. The guys, when we had to push for the upgrades, they were working night and day, and we have to keep this in mind."

Asked if he felt one driver was more responsible than the other, he said: "I didn't discuss with them. Let me discuss with them first."

Leclerc has admitted that he was aware, having cut the corner at Turn 4, he needed to hand the position back to Hamilton. However, the fact that the Briton had been overtaken by Max Verstappen made this impossible.

Vasseur insists that all is not what it appeared.

"It was not very clear," he said. "We had a discussion with the race control, but you have to act before Turn 11. You have five seconds delay between the video and the reality. It means that you are already in Turn 11.

"The regulation is clear that you have to give back the position in this case before Turn 11. And we agreed before the race that they have to do it by themselves, because for an infringement in Turn 1, it's before Turn 4. The car is in Turn 4, but we didn't see the incident on the TV yet."

Nonetheless, Leclerc admits that the 5s penalty he received for the initial clash was warranted.

"The penalty was deserved in a way," he said. "The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn't make Turn 4. Then I stayed ahead, and then Max got past Lewis. I asked what should I do? And I kept the position and took a deserved penalty.

"We both didn't make the corner," he explained. "I don't know if Lewis' point was for me to get P3, but at least having a Red Bull in second, I felt it was worth it to kind of keep the position and see what happens. That's what I did.

"I mean, I could also be unhappy with how much he pushed me off the track out of Turn 1," he added, referring to Hamilton. "But I think it's racing. When you are fighting for a win, it's the way it should be."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City here.