Lewis Hamilton called out by F1 steward for 'naughty' antics in George Russell battle

Formula One steward Damon Hill has described one of 's moves as 'naughty' after the Brit made a sharp direction change on the approach to Turn One to defend from team-mate .

With a huge gap to Max Verstappen in sixth place and little chance of catching the two Ferrari drivers and Lando Norris ahead, Hamilton and Russell were allowed to do battle during the closing stages of the race, provided they kept their noses clean.

The two drivers duly obliged with Hamilton eventually winning out, leading his team-mate over the line in P4. However, one of his moves has been singled out by the 1996 F1 world champion, who brought the Ferrari-bound star up as an example in the stewarding debate.

"Drivers were originally brought in to help stewards make decisions on driving issues which they had very little experience or knowledge of," Hill explained on the ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"The idea was to bring in drivers who had raced at that level and were able to say: 'When I look at that, I think it's right or wrong'. Those drivers who were enlisted to help the stewards became stewards themselves so now they're bound by all the other regulations and jobs the stewards have.

"They are now just the same as the other stewards. If it was just a driver looking at that, say Martin Brundle, they would say: 'No, that's not right'. We can apply that to Lewis' late change of direction when he was being passed by George. I have to say, I saw that and I thought it was a little bit naughty."

While Hill was unimpressed with Hamilton's defensive tactics, team-mate Russell had no such gripes and praised the seven-time world champion for the clean and fair racing they enjoyed at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

"It was nice to have the battle," Russell said. "It's always good when you fight with Lewis because it's hard and fair, and at the moment we've seen a number of manoeuvres that are just getting beyond entertainment, or beyond sort of sportsmanship, almost unfair to a point now."

While Hamilton and Russell enjoyed their battle in Mexico . The former was hit with two 10-second time penalties for overly aggressive lunges on the McLaren driver, sparking a fierce debate about driving standards that has carried over to the Interlagos paddock.