By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England (Reuters) -Oscar Piastri was feeling the pain after a British Grand Prix penalty cost him a win and handed it instead to McLaren teammate and closest Formula One rival Lando Norris.
Instead of forging further ahead in the championship, the Australian saw his lead slashed to eight points after 12 of 24 races.
Piastri was leading and following the safety car when it signalled it was about to return to the pits on lap 21. The Australian then braked suddenly, before the restart, and caught out Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen.
The Dutch driver, close behind, went ahead of the McLaren to avoid making contact before resuming position and then spinning on the restart, dropping to 11th.
Stewards took a dim view of the incident — a harsh decision according to team boss Andrea Stella — and handed Piastri a 10-second penalty that, when taken, left him second in a McLaren one-two.
“I’m not going to say much. I’ll get myself in trouble,” were Piastri’s first words to 2009 world champion Jenson Button in the post-race interviews.
“Apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore. I mean, I did it for five laps before that … but thanks to the crowd for a great event. Thanks for sticking through the weather.
“I still like Silverstone even if I don’t like it today.”
Asked again in a press conference how long it would take him to move on, Piastri — so often unemotional — released the pressure on his tongue a little bit.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “It obviously hurts at the moment. It’s a different hurt though because I know I deserved a lot more than what I got today. I felt like I drove a really strong race.
“Ultimately, when you don’t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts, especially when it’s not in your control … I feel like I did a good job today. So, it just makes it more painful when you don’t win.”
Piastri served the penalty with nine laps to go and, with McLaren having suggested they might appeal the penalty, enquired over the radio whether he and Norris might switch positions.
With Norris heading for a first home win in front of a Sunday crowd of 168,000, he knew the request was unlikely to be granted.
“I thought I would ask the question. I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked. But I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn’t going to happen,” said Piastri.
Stella said the driver was right to ask, however.
“We always tell our drivers don’t keep things in the back of your mind … if you want to let us know what you are thinking, just say it,” he told reporters.
“What Oscar did is exactly what we incentivised our drivers to do. He communicated, he expressed his opinion, which we evaluated.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
Comments