Oscar Piastri said it was tough to receive a penalty after colliding with Kimi Antonelli at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, leaving him fifth and dropping further in the drivers’ championship.
Stewards handed Piastri a 10-second time penalty for causing contact with Antonelli during the three-wide entry into Turn 1 after the safety car restart. Piastri was on the inside and Antonelli in the middle, but the ensuing contact eliminated Charles Leclerc. The McLaren driver believes he was in full control throughout the incident.
“In my opinion, there was a very clear chance on the inside, so I went for it. Yes, there was a lockup, but I was firmly on top, on the white line. I couldn’t go any further to the left, I couldn’t just disappear,” Piastri said. “That’s how decisions are made. It was one of many difficult moments between today and this weekend, but I don’t think I would have done anything differently if I had had another chance.”
“I’d definitely like to say I was going backwards, but I think it was because the other two cars were slow to brake. It was a little bit wet on the inside, so I was probably a little more cautious. Obviously when you’re on the outside, you can move more freely.”
“We had another lock-up, but the fact that we were able to stay on the inside white line with the lock-up meant that if we could maintain our line, we were in pretty good control.
“The way you look at[the lock-up]I don’t know where to go, because when you run that well full-side in Turn 1, you can’t just go backwards. It would have been ambitious to try to go even deeper than I did, and I’m where I am now.”
“In that scenario, if I obviously understeered and missed the apex and then hit you, I think it would certainly be understandable, but the fact that I went all the way to the left makes it difficult.”
Lando Norris’ victory means Piastri has moved 24 points clear of his teammate in the drivers’ championship, but the Australian admitted he is still searching for a consistent return to the form he saw earlier in the season.
“Things certainly haven’t been easy,” he lamented. “There were moments and moments this weekend where I felt very comfortable. Things were going easier again in practice, but over the weekend it took a little bit away. I don’t think just our pace as a team was as strong as it was on Friday, and the car was going in a direction that I didn’t really like.”
“We did everything we could to get the car running at good times. The crash in the sprint also made things difficult. There’s just a lot of things going wrong at the moment, but there are still signs of really strong pace and (we’re) always trying to maintain that.”
