Oscar Piastri has been the model Formula One driver since arriving in the sport at the start of 2023. The previous summer he had a very public spat with Alpine to whom he was contracted as a junior driver, yet the fallout as reported in the media landed square on the disorganised French F1 team’s legal department.
Having been surprised by Fernando Alonso quitting the team, Alpine quickly announced on social media that their junior driver Oscar Piastri would replace the outgoing world champion. Within 90 minutes, the young Aussie hit back stating he would not be joining the Alpine team the following season.
Lacking confidence in the Renault backed F1 project, Piastri had secured a contract behind the scenes with the McLaren F1 team which was subsequently verified as valid by the Contract Recognition Board (CRB). In an underperforming McLaren car, Piastri delivered a decent rookie season scoring half the points of his experienced team mate Lando Norris.
Piastri loses implacable demeanour
A poor start to the year in 2024, meant by the time Piastri claimed his first podium in Monaco, round eight, his team mate was down the road hoping to challenge Max Verstappen for the world championship. Oscar at times still struggled to manage his Pirelli tyres in an optimum fashion, which often saw him struggling late in a stint which caused him to lose ground to his team mate.
Yet the Oscar Piastri who emerged this season has been something of a revelation. Despite spinning and losing a certain P2 at his home race and the season opener in Melbourne, since then Piastri has been almost flawless. He has out qualified his team mate 7-5 and has claimed five race wins to Lando Norris four. The gap between the championship rivals now stands at eight points in the favour of the man from Melbourne.
The nigh on perfect season came to a swift halt at the British Grand Prix where Piastri’s mistake behind the safety car was punished hard by the F1 race stewards. Further, the implacable demeanour shown by Oscar when the going has been tough, saw the mask slip somewhat as he displayed anger and dismay after the chequered flag had fallen.
As the second safety car was being withdrawn, Piastri launched his McLaren full throttle reaching 135 mph before slamming on the brakes in poor visibility bringing his MCL39 back to 32 mph. Blinded by the spray from Piastri, Verstappen reacted late to Oscar’s move to warm his tyres, shooting past the leader of the race – normally a ‘no no’ when behind the safety car.
Oscar irritated by questions
Yet the stewards decided Piastri had been driving “erratically” which is against the rules, handing down a ten second penalty which cost the McLaren driver the race. A similar incident in Canada was adjudicated differently. George Russell was investigated for the same offence, but the stewards at Silverstone found Piastri used double the braking pressure of the Mercedes driver – who was acquitted – and in the wet conditions and poor visibility this was indeed a dangerous action to take.
Piastri was dutiful in congratulating his team mate on a home victory, but during the pre-podium interview with Jenson Button, the Aussie was clearly seething. “I’m not going to say much, I’ll get myself in trouble,” he replied to the obvious question. “Apparently, you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore.”
Oscar’s mood did not improve and in the later FIA press conference he appeared irritated when asked whether he would visit the stewards and seek clarification. “I don’t really care at the moment. It obviously hurts at the moment. A different sort of hurt because I know I deserved a lot more than I got today. I felt like I drove a really strong race. It hurts, especially when it’s not in your control.
“I don’t really get it… I’m a bit confused to say the least,” concluded the McLaren driver. McLaren had argued at the previous race start, Piastri had performed a similar ‘brake test’ with similar speed and pressures involved. Yet this merely highlighted that the stewards had failed to act properly during the previous safety car period, rather than their eventual sanction was improper.
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Slam dunk breach of the rules
McLaren also reasoned that due to the late withdrawal of the safety car with just three corners of the circuit remaining, their driver was forced to slam on his brakes to allow the safety car to clear the field before the restart. The stewards were unmoved.
The F1 sporting regulations state: “The leader must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off.”
Simply put Piastri was in breach of this article.
However, McLaren CEO Zak Brown, maintained that the incident looked worse on TV than the telemetry showed. Given the braking pressures under normal circumstances can be around 130Psi, he argued that 60 Psi was reasonable.
Stella implies Verstappen ulterior motive
Having mostly refused to be dragged into the rights and wrongs of the matter, late in the day the McLaren management decided to cast aspersions in the direction of Max Verstappen. More than twenty minutes late for his press conference, team principal Andreas Stella had this to say by way of explanation.
“I just wanted to take another look after the initial look that we took live, during the race. I have to say that the penalty still looks very harsh,” Stella said. “There’s a few factors that we would have liked the stewards to take into account.” He again complained about the late withdrawal on the lap of the safety car before suggesting Piastri may well have been the victim of foul play.
“We’ll have to see also if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is,” added Stella. “Because we know that as part of the race craft of some competitors, there’s also the ability to make others look like they are causing a severe infringement when they are not.”
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McLaren demean themselves
This suggestion demeans the usually fair minded Andreas Stella, who is clearly pointing the finger at Max Verstappen. The implication being is he passed Piastri on purpose with a view to getting him sanctioned, not due to the sudden braking of the McLaren driver. Even Nico Hulkneberg was surprised by the effect Piastri’s sudden stop had on the cars behind.
Verstappen is one of the hardest F1 racers around, yet unlike some of his competitors he does his talking on the track. This was merely a case of inexperience in the situation and potentially a failure on the behalf of the stewards not to have penalised Piastri at the first safety car restart.
The young Aussie has been somewhat a paradigm of an F1 driver to date, but his handling of this affair has somehow tainted that image. Indeed Piastri showed a rare chick in his psychological armour at Silverstone, something Lando Norris can exploit as the pair battle for their maiden F1 drivers title.
Schumacher SLAMS “dirty” Piastri
Oscar Piastri began the British Grand Prix weekend with all the poise and confidence of a Formula 1 World Championship leader. However, he left not with a winner’s trophy, but with a ten-second penalty, two more penalty points on his licence and a furious expression. While Lando Norris revelled in his status as a home hero, Piastri raged at the stewards’ decision — and former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher dismissed his complaints out of hand.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1, Schumacher was crystal clear in his post-race assessment of the drama that saw Piastri relegated behind his teammate, Norris…. READ MORE
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Ralf is right, Piastri doesn’t drive safely or fairly in these situations, and needs to take the punishment with good grace.
“chick in his psychological armour” – no, ‘chink’.
Did you see his brake that seems similar in previous safety car.
It was understandable that he got disappointed.
But again he is faster than Lando, that’s the fact 🙂
I think we should STOP blaming verstappen for everything which are NOT his fault. 😡
A very vulnerable British perspective.
Strange the whole episode! In all honesty no chink in Piastri, and Norris definitely knows who the faster driver was on the day. Must be a very hollow feeling to win, because the stewards handed out a time penalty, to the best driver on the day. What about the rushed restart by the stewards, do they get a whack behind the ear?