Piastri’s British GP Penalty: Was it Fair?

SILVERSTONE, England — Although he maintained composure for the media on Sunday evening, Oscar Piastri`s frustration was evident when discussing the 10-second penalty that cost him the British GP victory. He gave concise, simple answers to TV interviews, likely suppressing his deeper emotions to avoid potential issues with the FIA.

Finishing his broadcast media duties well before his exuberant teammate, race winner Lando Norris, meant Piastri had to wait alone for 25 minutes before the compulsory written media session began. When it did, Piastri again carefully navigated between expressing his frustration and fully venting his true feelings.

“It obviously hurts at the moment,” he said. “It`s a different hurt, though, because I know I deserved a lot more than what I got today. I felt like I drove a really strong race.

“And yeah, ultimately when you don`t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts. Especially when it`s not in your control.”

Known for his calm demeanor over team radio and understated reactions to race results, Piastri is practiced in keeping his emotions under wraps.

Up until Lap 21 and a second safety car restart, he had performed flawlessly at Silverstone, but a single hard application of the brakes cost him victory as well as a significant 14-point swing in the drivers` standings in Norris` favor.

There was no indication Sunday evening that Piastri intended to do anything untoward or gain an advantage by catching the driver behind him, Max Verstappen, off guard. A period of two consecutive safety car periods spanning seven laps had cooled his tyres and brakes, and a common technique to rebuild temperature is to brake heavily and make use of the heat generated by the glowing carbon discs.

“I hit the brakes,” Piastri explained. “At the same time I did that, the lights on the safety car went out, which was also extremely late [around the lap].

“And then obviously, I didn`t accelerate because I can control the pace from there. And, yeah, you saw the result. I didn`t do anything differently to my first restart. I didn`t go any slower. I didn`t do anything differently.”

However, the heavy braking, and the fact Piastri didn`t then accelerate immediately after, caught second-place Verstappen by surprise. The Red Bull driver momentarily passed the McLaren, breaching one of the simplest safety car rules in the process by overtaking the car in front.

At first, it looked as if Verstappen might be investigated, but the stewards focused on Piastri`s actions as the cause for the overlapping cars.

Using access to the McLaren`s telemetry, the stewards were able to analyse the exact input on the brakes and accurately measure the 100 mph difference before and after his left foot applied pressure to the pedal. What they found led them to conclude Piastri had broken another safety car rule that outlaws erratic driving.

A stewards` statement read: “When the clerk of the course had declared that the safety car was coming in that lap and the lights were extinguished, Car 81 suddenly braked hard (59.2 psi of brake pressure) and reduced speed in the middle of the straight between T14 and T15, from 218 kph (135 mph) to 52 kph (32 mph), resulting in Car 1 having to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

“This momentarily resulted in Car 1 unavoidably overtaking Car 81, a position which he gave back immediately. Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other maneuver which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off. What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article.”

The rule outlawing erratic driving behind the safety car exists to prevent chaotic restarts. If the lead driver accelerates and brakes hard after the safety car has signalled its return to the pits, it can cause a concertina effect on the cars behind that are trying to time their own restart and potentially lead to accidents.

While Piastri did not appear to be seeking an advantage over Verstappen — his heavy braking coincided with the safety car turning off its lights rather than being an attempt to disrupt the Red Bull`s restart after the lights had been extinguished — it was a significant deceleration that caused bunching up behind. Therefore, under a strict interpretation of the sporting regulations, it deserved a penalty.

Unsurprisingly, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who also reviewed data before talking to the media Sunday evening, said the incident had been overblown. He also suggested Verstappen acted in a way that had perhaps made Piastri`s actions look worse.

“I have to say that the penalty still looks very harsh,” Stella said. “There`s a few factors that we would like the stewards to take into account.

“First of all, the safety car was pulled in very late, not leaving much time for the leader to actually restart in conditions in which you lose higher temperature, you lose brake temperature and the same goes for everyone. The 50 bar [brake pressure], it`s a pressure that you see during the safety car when you do some braking and acceleration.

“We`ll have to see also if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is, because we know that as part of the race craft of some competitors, definitely there`s also the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not,” he said.

“So, a few things to review, but in itself now the penalty has been decided, has been served and we move on. We will see if there`s anything to learn on our side, and I`m sure Oscar will use this motivation for being even more determined for the races to come and trying to win as many races as possible.”

Verstappen clearly did not want to be drawn into the subject while speaking to the media, but he questioned why Piastri got a penalty when similar situations in the past had gone unpenalised.

“You know, the thing is that it happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario,” Verstappen said. “I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds for it.”

The question of consistency was also raised by Red Bull principal Christian Horner, drawing upon a very recent precedent set by his team`s failed protest against George Russell after the Canadian Grand Prix. In Montreal, Red Bull accused Russell of driving erratically behind the safety car in an incident with clear similarities to Sunday`s, but their protest was rejected by the stewards.

“I mean, George obviously didn`t get one in Canada,” Horner said. “I wasn`t surprised to see [Piastri] get a penalty. That was what you would expect. It was probably more surprising that George didn`t get one in Montreal, to be honest with you.”

Yet the stewards` findings from the two investigations in Canada and Silverstone had very clear differences: Russell`s brake pressure in Canada was measured at 30 psi, while Piastri`s was nearly double that, and Russell only decelerated by just over 40mph while Piastri slowed by 100 mph.

Combined with different track conditions in the two examples as well as the incidents happening at different phases of the safety car restart, direct comparisons, according to the stewards, are difficult to make credibly.

On top of that, Piastri was keen to stress what he felt was another key difference between the two incidents.

“I don`t think he [Verstappen] had to evade me,” he said. “I think he managed the first time [under the first safety car].

“Going back to Canada, I think you had to evade more there than you did today. So, yeah, I`m a bit confused, to say the least.”

Could McLaren have switched its drivers?

Piastri`s 10-second penalty saw him emerge from the pits behind Norris after the pair made their final stops to switch from intermediates to slicks. Clearly struggling to accept the outcome, Piastri asked if the two drivers could swap positions, albeit knowing it was unlikely the team would agree.

“I thought I would ask the question,” he explained after the race. “I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn`t going to happen.”

Stella had no issue with his driver floating the idea, and said the pit wall had thought carefully about the fairest way to let the race unfold – with one scenario that still stood to benefit Piastri.

“As part of the way we go racing together with Lando and Oscar, we always tell our drivers, `Don`t keep things in the back of your mind when you drive,`” he said. “`If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want to let us know what you`re thinking, just say it. And then we will evaluate it a bit more, we will make a decision, we will come back to you.`

“So I think what Oscar did is exactly what we incentivized our drivers to do. He communicated, he expressed his opinion, which we evaluated. In reality, the way we managed the situation today, given the penalty, was to allow Oscar, despite the penalty, in case of a safety car, to retain the lead because if there was a safety car, both cars would have pitted [together] and Oscar would have paid the penalty while Lando would have waited, and the two McLarens would have gone out in the same order as they came in.

“But at the point in which we needed to have the transition to the dry tires, then the penalty was taken, and at that stage we thought that we should just retain the natural order again due to the penalty. So I think this was fair, and I`m sure that Oscar will understand and agree with this point of view.”

The consequence of the penalty was a significant home victory for Norris and a reduction in Piastri`s points advantage over his teammate to just eight points. This win marked Norris`s third in five races, highlighting his increasing championship challenge momentum.

Piastri had shown strong pace earlier in the race, making his frustration with the penalty`s outcome understandable. He reflected, “The whole team did a really good job, the car was obviously mega, and giving myself credit, I feel like I did a good job today.” He concluded that performing well “just makes it more painful when you don`t win.”