McLaren labels Piastri penalty as ‘harsh’

McLaren leaders believed Oscar Piastri was handed a “harsh” penalty, which changed the result of the 2025 British Grand Prix.

Piastri was given a 10s penalty for a breach of Safety Car regulations ahead of the Lap 21 restart.

As a result, the #81 lost the lead to teammate Lando Norris, who claimed an emotional win on home soil.

The flashpoint occurred when the Australian decelerated from 218km/h to 52km/h after the Safety Car’s lights went out late on the Hangar Straight.

What angered Piastri the most was that he felt he did nothing different to the Lap 17 restart, where he slowed from 208km/h to 51km/h when Verstappen did not need to avoid the McLaren.

But critically, The Race reports that Race Control was not happy with Piastri’s actions on the Lap 17 restart and when something similar happened four laps later, they pinged him in breach of Article 55.15 for “erratic driving.”

This states “from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out, drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restarts.”

Whilst these rules are rarely breached, they are in place to avoid scenarios such as the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix when Valtteri Bottas left it so late the backmarkers decided the race had resumed and five cars took each other out in the middle of pit straight.

Some even defending the penalty are still calling out the severity of it, given the 10s penalty Piastri received is the same Verstappen received for deliberately driving into George Russell in Spain.

Whilst happy for home hero Norris, both Zak Brown and Andrea Stella stood up for Piastri after the Aussie showed his angry side.

“We certainly gave our input to the Race Direction, especially related to the fact that we felt the Safety Car was called in relatively late,” Stella explained.

“This didn’t give much space for the leading driver to take control of the group and go with the restarting procedure. So, we think overall the penalty was harsh… At the moment there is not much we can do, we just need to take it on the chin.

“A tough one for Oscar as he drove very well today, very well. But it is just the midseason, many more opportunities and I think this will give Oscar even more motivation.”

Brown was more diplomatic, calling it “a close one.”

“The Safety Car seemed like it was called in a bit late. The leader controls… I think Max accelerated, Oscar braked, which made it look worse than it was. The telemetry didn’t look like it looked on tv. But it is what it is,” Brown told Sky Sports F1.

“I think any time you get into these penalties, there’s an element of subjectivity. I think when they’re pounding on the brakes, they’re 130-140 PSI, so trying to get temperature in the tyres, it’s wet, late call – a close one.”

As recently as Canada, a similar moment occurred when George Russell slowed from 140km/h to 85km/h and Verstappen also had to take avoiding action.

Red Bull protested, but the Mercedes driver went unpenalised.

On this occasion, Red Bull was adamant Piastri deserved to be pinged.

‘I wasn’t surprised to see him (Piastri) get a penalty,” Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner said. 

“That was what you would expect. It was probably more surprising that George didn’t get one in Montreal, to be honest with you.”

But Verstappen was more on Piastri’s side.

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

The debate will roll on for a few more weeks with Spa not until July 25-27.

Buy the new issue of Auto Action Premium HERE

Read the new issue of Auto Action Digital HERE

Don’t forget the print edition of Auto Action available via subscription here or you can purchase a copy of the latest issue from one of our outlets here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine