Oscar Piastri issues FIA inconsistency criticism in Verstappen v Norris verdict

Oscar Piastri believes the F1 driver guidelines need clarifying after his incident and the ones involving Lando Norris and Max Verstappen produced “opposite penalties”.

Norris received a five-second time penalty late in the US Grand Prix after being judged to have overtaken title rival Verstappen off the track. Norris went around the outside at Turn 12 with neither driver making the corner, as Norris re-joined ahead and in the podium places.

Oscar Piastri feels F1 driver combat guidelines ‘not very clear’

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

McLaren were far from pleased with the stewards’ verdict to give Norris that five-second penalty, which cost him a podium and gained Verstappen three points, while the Woking squad were also unhappy about what happened at the start, Verstappen squeezing down the inside of Norris at Turn 1, opening the door for Charles Leclerc to take the lead as both went wide.

Asked by the media, including PlanetF1.com, whether he had got the chance to watch these Norris and Verstappen incidents back, Norris’ McLaren team-mate Piastri replied: “I’ve seen it briefly. I mean, it’s not really that much for me to comment on.

“The only thing I would say is both cars went off the track, so I feel like it’s a bit difficult to give a penalty for both guys going off the track.

“I don’t know what happened at Turn 1 either. It looked pretty dicey.”

And when asked whether he thought the guidelines for on-track battles were clear enough, Piastri expressed his view that inconsistency was there in how those rules are interpreted.

He referred back to the sprint where he was in the Verstappen position and got a five-second penalty for having been judged to have forced Pierre Gasly off the track at Turn 12.

Latest F1 2024 driver head-to-head scores

? F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

? F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

“I mean, I think if you look at my penalty from the sprint, it was basically a carbon copy of Max and Lando, but I stayed on the track and I got the penalty,” said Piastri. “So no, it’s not very clear.

“It’s tough. Yeah, it’s just very difficult. I feel like as drivers, we also all kind of have different interpretations of what we think is fair and what’s not, especially when it comes to being on the outside of another driver.

“But you know, the difference of 10 centimeters or 20 centimeters shouldn’t be the difference of you having the right to space or not having the right to space.

“And obviously, for stewards who have generally not driven a car very much, it’s very tough to judge that in the moment especially.

“So, yeah, I think my incident yesterday and Lando and Max’s today looked very similar with the opposite penalties. So I’m sure we’ll have some questions.”

Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ Championship by 57 points over Norris with five rounds to go in F1 2024.

Read next – Explained: Why Max Verstappen wasn’t penalised in dramatic Lando Norris battle