Oscar Piastri makes Max Verstappen evade claim after contentious British GP incident

Oscar Piastri said he was left “confused” by the fact that Max Verstappen had to evade him during the incident behind the Safety Car at Silverstone.

The championship leader was given a 10-second time penalty for braking erratically behind the Safety Car as he prepared for the restart, with the incident causing Max Verstappen to sail past him.

Oscar Piastri ‘confused’ by Max Verstappen incident

The 10-second time penalty cost Piastri the chance to claim another win and extend his points lead over Lando Norris further, having had to instead settle for second place.

Piastri had been preparing for the restart after a Safety Car intervention, leading on track ahead of Verstappen, when he suddenly hit the brakes hard as he took over the controlling speed duties when the Safety Car lights went out.

This sudden application of brake pressure saw his speed drop from 218kph to just 52kph and, in the spray, Verstappen appeared caught out. Sailing past Piastri on the right-hand side of the Australian, Verstappen’s own actions were in contravention of the rules, as drivers are required to stay behind the car in front.

But Verstappen wasn’t penalised, as the stewards found Piastri’s actions to have been erratic, awarding him the penalty as a consequence.

A morose Piastri couldn’t hide his unhappiness following the chequered flag, having seen his championship lead shrink to eight points over McLaren team-mate Norris due to an action he hinted had been over-egged by Verstappen.

“I don’t think he had to evade me,” Piastri said.

“I think he managed the first time [during the previous Safety Car, in which Piastri had done similarly hard braking].”

Referring back to a similar incident in the dry at Canada, where Verstappen had gone past George Russell’s Mercedes in a similar scenario, Piastri said, “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.”

Asked whether he felt the penalty had been inconsistent with what happened in Canada, for which Russell was not penalised, Piastri said, “I don’t know how different it was. I can only comment on what I felt I did, which I felt was well within the rules, and I did it once already in that race. So, yeah. I don’t really get it. I’ll go have a look back.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said he felt the penalty given to Piastri had been very harsh and that the 59psi brake pressure the Australian had applied was usual under Safety Car conditions. He said an internal review of the entire scenario would take place, as well as checking to see whether Verstappen had contributed to making the incident look worse than it was.

“We’ll have to see if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, “because we know that the race craft for some competitors, definitely, there’s also the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not.

“So, a few things to review, but in itself, now the penalty has been decided, has been served, and we move on.”

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Anthony Davidson: Max Verstappen was shocked in the moment

Assessing the fairness of the penalty during a post-race analysis on Sky F1, experienced racer Anthony Davidson said he believed Piastri’s actions had merited the penalty.

“It’s all a bit slow here,” he said, watching the footage back.

“[The] Safety Car disappears momentarily, Verstappen thinks ‘I get a bit of heat in the rear tyres’ at this point, and then, out of nowhere, the McLaren starts to come at you.

“So it really did shock Max in that moment.

“You see how far ahead the Safety Car was at the time. I did tend to agree with the stewards’ decision, I thought it was slightly erratic driving.”

Comparing Piastri’s braking to what he had done under the Safety Car on Lap 20, Davidson said, “[There’s] lots of weaving going on, there’s a bit of a slowing down, but it’s obviously nowhere near as bad in my opinion as what caught Max out before.

“So I do agree with the stewards on this one.”

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