Piastri letting rivals ‘do the talking’ on controversial Brazilian GP penalty
Oscar Piastri found his Brazilian GP penalty "tough" to take.
Penalised by the letter of the law in Brazil, Oscar Piastri believes it says a lot that many of his rivals – even Charles Leclerc who was the innocent victim – have spoken out in his defence.
That, though, does nothing to negate the hefty blow that the 10-second penalty dealt to Piastri’s title quest as he fell 24 points behind Lando Norris.
Oscar Piastri calls for ‘talks’ with FIA after Brazil penalty
Lining up fourth in an early Safety Car restart at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Piastri tried to make up a position on Kimi Antonelli with a pass down the inside of Turn 1.
The two made contact with Antonelli pushed into Leclerc, who lost a wheel and was forced to park his Ferrari.
The stewards ruled that Piastri was “wholly responsible” for the collision as his “front axle was not alongside the mirror” of Antonelli’s Mercedes, and he “locked the brakes”.
By the letter of the law laid out in the Driving Standard Guidelines, the Australian was in the wrong.
Piastri, who had previously explained he could not “just disappear”, was asked in Las Vegas about his stance 10 days on from the penalty.
“I think fortunately for me, a lot of people have done the talking for me,” the Australian said.
“I think when one of my fellow drivers is involved in the accident and says it’s not your fault, I think that’s a pretty good indication.”
That driver was Leclerc, who defended Piastri in what he saw as a 50:50 incident between the Australian racer and Antonelli.
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Explaining his reasoning, the Ferrari driver said: “In this case I really think Kimi knew and was aware that Oscar was on the inside.
“Yes, he was not side-by-side which is the way it’s written in the rulebook, but you cannot really do a corner like nobody is on the inside if someone is on the inside, no matter how far he is.
“So for me it’s a bit more of a 50:50 blame with Kimi and Oscar – I don’t think Oscar deserved all the blame there.”
Piastri suggested his Brazilian penalty will be one of the topics that the drivers discuss with the FIA during their drivers’ briefing in Las Vegas.
“It’s something that I’m sure we’ll talk about with the FIA, just to get some more understanding,” he said.
“I think it was a bit of a surprise for everyone here that this penalty was so harsh, myself included. So I’m sure we’ll talk about it.
“The only thing you can do in these situations is try to learn the reasoning and thinking behind it and whether that needs to change or not. They’ve been very receptive to that in the past, and I’m sure they will in the future.”
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who has himself fallen foul of Formula 1’s guidelines, blasted Piastri’s penalty as “unacceptable” as there was nothing the McLaren driver could do to avoid a collision.
“I think we need urgently a catch-up and try and solve it because for me the fact that Oscar got a penalty there in Brazil is unacceptable,” said Sainz.
“Honestly, for the category that we are in and being the pinnacle of motorsport… I think everyone that’s seen racing knows that is not Oscar’s fault at all, and everyone that’s really raced a race car knows he could have done nothing to avoid an accident there.
“So it is something that I don’t understand.”
But while Piastri’s penalty will be up for discuss with the FIA in Las Vegas, that does nothing to negate the damage it did to his title chances as he trails Norris by 24 points with three race weekends remaining.
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