Piastri “erratic driving” was repeatedly examined by Silverstone stewards – McLaren and Oscar Piastri emerged from the 2025 Formula One British Grand Prix with a stain on their reputation. Both Zak Brown and team principal Andreas Stella were unhappy with how the stewards interpreted the sporting regulations deploying a number of excuses as to why the ten second penalty was “harsh.”

As the lights on the sate car went out for the second restart of the Grand Prix, Piastri accelerated and then braked heavily causing Verstappen to sail on by in the slippery conditions and poor visibility.

McLaren complained the lights on the safety car were late to go out on that fateful second restart lap, thus not allowing the drivers to warm the tyres properly and resulted in Piastri needing to quickly create a gap to the safety car for the restart.

 

 

 

 

Late safety car lights blamed

Yet there is no designated place for the safety car to have turned off its lights, prior to the final safety car line which is just just ahead of the pit lane entry at Silverstone with just the final two corners remaining before the start/finish line. Indeed a driver is allowed to crawl all the way to the restart line before he accelerates and indicates the restart of the race.

Next up was the excuse that the restart was the same as the one four laps earlier, where Piastri decelerated from a similar top speed of 135mph down to 32mph in a handful of metres. Stella then added into the mix the inference that in fact it was Max Verstappen, who through gamesmanship, was seeking to get the McLaren race leader punished by the stewards.

Having re-examined the footage of the incident, Stella was twenty minutes late to his schedule post race press conference where he said. “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.”

This accusation is a low ball from McLaren and Stella, who regularly claim to hold to the highest standards of fairness in competition. The next question raised by McLaren, was ‘why did the stewards not investigate the first restart’ where they claim Piastri made a similar move.

Schumacher Slams ‘DIRTY’ Piastri

 

 

 

Race control unhappy with Piastri first restart

The data supports on both occasions he slowed across the same distance by 100mph whilst using similar brake pressures. Yet on the previous restart, Verstappen was further behind the McLaren and replays show the visibility was far better for the Red Bull driver the first time around. 

“I did what I did [also] at the first restart, and apparently one needed a penalty and one didn’t,” Piastri complained after first saying he couldn’t “be bothered” to comment as to would make no difference.

Of course a motorsports race is an ever evolving and changing, living being and the circumstances were not identical between Piastri’s first and second restart attempts. TJ13 now learns that race control was not happy with Piastri’s first effort either and there were discussions as to whether the stewards should rule on the matter.

Yet as is the case in many sports, the referees are able to let a marginal misdemeanour go, but should it happen again may then penalise the player. This appears to be the case for Piastri. Further, in the top three drivers cool down room, Nico Hulkenberg commented on the concertina effect Piastri’s braking had caused throughout the field.

Jenson Button sparks furious debate over Verstappen

 

 

 

Rules change when the SC  lights go out

One of the most potentially dangerous incidents which can happen in F1, is a rolling race restart where those at the rear of the pack believe the leaders have gone for it and hit the loud pedal themselves. This occurred at the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix, and the result was chaos as the cars behind ploughed into the leaders who were still waiting for the race to restart.

When the safety cars lights are on, the sprite regulations state that: “No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the safety car is deployed.” However, weaving, accelerating and braking to retain tyre temperature is allowed.

When the lights go out, the drivers must travel at a constant pace to avoid the concertina effect and subsequent pile ups:“Which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre.” For this reason alone Piastri and McLaren are ‘bang to rights’.

With a similar incident happening two race weekends previous in Canada, the stewards are setting precedents as to how they will handle these situations going forward. Yet in Canada it was George Russell under investigation, but he was cleared by the race stewards.

Leclerc not happy with Ferrari

 

 

 

Piastri says Canada ‘more dangerous’

Following Piastri’s penalty, Red Bull boss Christian Horner claimed he had fully expected the Piastri punishment, but questioned why the stewards in Canada had not come to the same conclusion. “I wasn’t surprised to see him [Piastri] get a penalty”, he said. “That was what you would expect. It was probably more surprising that Russell didn’t get one in Montreal, to be honest with you.”

In a desperate bid to find some kind of justification, Piastri himself believed the Russell situation in Canada was more dangerous. “I don’t think he had to evade me,” he said. “I think he managed the first time. 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.”

Yet there was also a key difference between Montreal and Silverstone, in that Russell was behind a safety car with its lights still on. So the braking and accelerating was allowed and his driving in this light was not deemed to be “erratic.”

In fact it was Piastri who was engaging with gamesmanship at the British Grand Prix, in an attempt to prevent his rival behind building temperature into his tyres. But this is a common action amongst all F1 drivers in this position and for that at least the young Australian should not be pilloried.

 

 

 

Pit stop data shows Norris would have won regardless of Piastri penalty

The mantra coming from the McLaren F1 team this season has been repeatedly that the team comes first but their drivers are free to race. This by the way is a convenient methodology which  avoids issuing the controversial team orders to the drivers, something McLaren did reluctantly, but more than once last year.

With Max Verstappen stymied by the weather come race day in Silverstone with his low downforce setup used to claim pole position in the dry, Piastri made easy pickings of the Red Bull driver come the wet start of the 2025 British Grand Prix. As the world champion battled to raise his tyre temperatures, Norris was stuck behind the Red Bull driver as his team mate disappeared up the road over two seconds a lap quicker than the field.

As Max made a mistake in the Chapel corner, Norris swept by but extreme wet conditions saw the first safety car deployed soon after. Lap 11 of the race and Piastri, Norris and Verstappen all pitted for fresh intermediate weather tyres with Lando ahead of the world champion as they entered the pits. But a sticking front left wheel gun meant he emerged behind Verstappen after round of stops was complete…. READ MORE