McLaren to Review Oscar Piastri’s “Very Harsh” Penalty from British GP with Stewards

McLaren has announced it will conduct further assessments of Oscar Piastri’s disputed 10-second penalty from the British Grand Prix, maintaining that the sanction was “very harsh.” The penalty, issued for what race stewards deemed “erratic driving” in front of Max Verstappen, significantly impacted Piastri’s bid for victory at Silverstone.

The incident occurred as Piastri, the championship leader, “braked heavily” down the Hangar Straight after the Safety Car had signalled it was about to pull into the pits to resume racing. Neither Piastri nor McLaren agreed with the stewards’ decision, though the team still celebrated a one-two finish with Lando Norris, extending their championship lead at their home race.

Andrea Stella Has His Say

Reflecting on the penalty, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said, “I was actually taking another look at the data and the video before coming here. I have to say that the penalty still looks very harsh. There are a few factors that we would’ve liked the stewards to take into account.”

Stella pointed out that “the Safety Car was called in very late, not leaving much time for the leader to actually restart in conditions in which you lose tyre temperature, you lose brake temperature, and the same goes for everyone.” He also noted that the brake pressure of 50 bar “is a pressure that you see during the Safety Car run, when you do some braking and acceleration.”

McLaren is also reviewing whether “other competitors” — in this case, Red Bull’s Verstappen — “made the situation look worse than what it is.” However, the stewards’ verdict stated that Verstappen had to take “evasive action to avoid a collision,” briefly overtaking Piastri after the Australian “suddenly braked hard (59.2 psi of brake pressure) and reduced speed in the middle of the straight… from 218kph to 52kph.”

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

While accepting the ruling, he added, “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 try and win as many races as possible in the future.”

Post Race Investigation

McLaren had also hoped for a post-race investigation, allowing stewards to speak directly to the drivers involved before issuing a judgment. Stella acknowledged the stewards’ challenging role and stressed the importance of ongoing dialogue. “There’s a lot to consider,” he said. “The fact that today we had a situation which we judged as a team as being a harsh penalty for one of our drivers, doesn’t change our opinion that the FIA and the stewards, they do a difficult job, they try their best. I think they do their best also to try and be consistent.”

He continued, “It’s always difficult to make the right calls. So what’s important is that we keep the dialogue going, I think we will have a good conversation with the FIA and with the stewards, and we will see how this situation could have been interpreted differently.”

Stella concluded, “What we said during the race was that we thought it was appropriate to discuss after the race, because I think we should have checked in detail the opinion of the drivers involved, and we should have checked why the safety car was called in so late, and then put together all the evidence such that the decision would be as fair as possible.”