McLaren team principal Andrea Stella felt Oscar Piastri’s 10-second penalty at the British Grand Prix was “very harsh,” and wanted the stewards to consider multiple factors around the incident.
Piastri was handed a time penalty and two penalty points on his FIA Super Licence after slowing down on the Hangar Straight ahead of a wet restart at Silverstone, in which Max Verstappen came to an abrupt stop after overtaking the then-race leader.
Andrea Stella: Oscar Piastri penalty ‘very harsh’ as ‘other competitors” involvement analysed
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Piastri was found to have braked suddenly at a rate of 59.2psi to take his speed down from 218kph to 52kph after the call that the Safety Car was being brought back in, with Verstappen having complained at the sudden stop on team radio.
With the subsequent 10-second penalty for “erratic braking,” a breach of the FIA’s International Sporting Code, the McLaren driver lost his lead in the pit lane to team-mate Lando Norris, with the Briton going on to win his home race for the first time.
Upon reflection and closer analysis of the incident, the McLaren team principal believes the stewards could have taken different on-track factors into account.
“I have to say that the penalty still looks very harsh,” Stella told media, including PlanetF1.com.
“There are a few factors that we would have liked the stewards to take into account. First of all, 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.
“The 50 bar [59 psi, ed.], 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 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.
“I think 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.”
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Piastri said immediately after the race that he didn’t want to “get myself in trouble” by addressing the incident directly, with his lead at the top of the Drivers’ standings now having shrunk to eight points.
What Stella made clear, however, was that he was not intending to disrespect the FIA’s decision, given the difficulty of the job the stewards face on any given race weekend.
He confirmed talks will take place with the governing body over their concerns, however, to see if the incident “could have been interpreted differently” with the benefit of hindsight.
“The fact that today we have a situation which we judge, 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 all try their best,” Stella explained.
“I think they do their best also to try and be consistent. There are many different scenarios, so the [idea that] scenarios change for some subtleties, is no different.
“I think operating as a steward or the FIA or operating as a team, 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.
“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 elements such that the decision could be as fair as possible.”
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