Max Verstappen says Oscar Piastri did not warrant the 10-second sanction that ultimately stripped him of his win at the Formula 1 race. British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Lando Norris secured triumph at his home Grand Prix following a turbulent race in Silverstone, narrowing the championship lead over his teammate Piastri, who came in second place.
Nico Hülkenberg amazingly secured third place despite starting from 19th position, achieving his first-ever podium finish in Formula 1 after 15 years and 239 race starts.
The critical moment occurred during a safety car restart when championship leader Piastri suddenly hit his brakes hard, catching Verstappen off guard due to limited visibility from the spray, as he was right behind the McLaren.
The stewards weren’t impressed with the Australian driver's performance and handed down a 10-second time penalty. He took the penalty during his last pit stop, giving Norris the chance to pass him and claim victory.
The typically composed Piastri became furious over the penalty and losing his position at the front, even going so far as to ask McLaren to switch places with Norris during the race—an idea that was swiftly dismissed.
“I received a 10-second penalty for braking under the Safety Car,” he explained after the race. “As soon as the lights on the Safety Car turned off, I pressed the brake pedal hard, but since I didn’t speed up again afterward, it resulted in a 10-second time penalty.”
Although numerous people concurred that Piastri was at fault, some raised concerns over how harsh the penalty turned out—surprisingly enough including none other than Verstappen himself.
“I didn’t know he had one until after the race was over. Nobody informed me during the event,” said the Red Bull driver, who started first but ended up finishing fifth.
It’s happened to me several times recently—people doing things like slamming on their brakes when they shouldn’t.
Oscar Piastri received a 10-second time penalty during the race for causing a collision with another driver. The incident occurred when he attempted an overtake but made contact, leading to both cars losing positions. Race stewards reviewed the footage post-race and determined that his actions were against racing regulations, resulting in the sanction being applied at the conclusion of the event.
This decision impacted his final standing as the added seconds dropped him behind competitors who finished closely around him before the penalty was enforced retroactively after crossing the finish line under original timing.
“The Stewards examined data from the positioning and marshalling systems, along with video footage, telemetry readings, communications over team radios, and in-vehicle camera recordings,” stated an official release from the FIA.
When the clerk of the course announced that the safety car would be deployed on that lap and the lights went out, Car 81 [Piastri] abruptly applied heavy braking (at 59.2 psi) between Turns 14 and 15, slowing down rapidly from 218 kph to 52 kph mid-straight, forcing Car 1 [Verstappen] to steer away sharply to prevent an accident.
This briefly caused Car 1 to overtake Car 81, though he promptly returned the position.
Car 81 was obligated under Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations to maintain a steady pace without sudden braking or performing any action that could potentially put other drivers at risk once the safety car’s lights were switched off.
What Car 81 did was obviously a violation of that rule. Based on the established penalty guidelines, we applied a ten-second time penalty to Car 81.
I simply think it's odd that all of a sudden Oscar is the first person to get 10 seconds for this. Getting 10 seconds itself feels extremely, unusually long.
But then again, I'm not the one who sets the rules.
Verstappen mentioned a comparable situation from last month’s Canadian Grand Prix, when George Russell suddenly slowed down behind the safety car, which caught him off guard—though not nearly as hazardously as what happened with Piastri.
Following Russell’s victory over Verstappen, Red Bull lodged an appeal challenging the outcome, arguing that Russell should have received a penalty; however, the stewards decided against sanctioning the Mercedes driver.
“I felt the penalty wasn’t great at all, but still, I'm happy our car was fast enough today,” Piastri said afterward. “It allowed me to show exactly what I wanted to demonstrate. It's frustrating though when something you've earned feels like it’s being stripped away—but sometimes things go that way.”
“I stepped on the brake, noticed the Safety Car lights were activated, so I didn’t speed up anymore. Then Max overtook me, which felt a little odd, and after that, I received a penalty—pretty straightforward really."
The tempo was solid—I gave it my all and executed what I had to do, but unfortunately fell short of getting the outcome I truly warranted.
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