Oscar Piastri believes he deserves to be second or higher at the British Grand Prix after being hit by a penalty for a safety car he won.
The Steward gave a 10-second time penalty for irregularly braking the Piastry in the final safety car reboot. In his decision, the Steward wrote:
“When the course clerk declared that the safety car was in its lap and the lights were off, the car No. 81 suddenly braked hard (59.2 psi of brake pressure), reducing the speed to 218kph in the middle of the straight between turns 14 and 15, resulting in Car No. 1 being avoided to avoid a collision.
“This has inevitably overtaken the No. 1 car No. 81.
“Article 55.15 of the FIA Sport Regulation requires that vehicle No. 81 proceed at a pace that does not involve unstable braking or other operations.
Piastri says it was a similar scenario to his previous lap when he was warming up the brakes behind the safety car, as the lights just went out when he hit the brakes.
“I hit the brakes,” Piastri said. “At the same time, when I did it, the safety car light went off. This was also very slow. Obviously, I could control the pace from there so I didn’t accelerate. I saw the results. I didn’t do anything different from the first reboot.
“It obviously hurts at the moment. But it’s another scar because I know I deserve a lot more value than today’s. I felt like I drove a really strong race. In the end, when you don’t get the results you think you deserve, it hurts, especially when you’re not in your control.
“I think it was a really, really good day. It was a similar race to 12 months ago and it was a very different outcome for the whole team. The whole team did a really good job. The car was clearly a mega and gave myself credit. I feel like I did a good job today.
Piastri says he didn’t expect McLaren to place a team order to exchange positions again after his penalty, despite demanding that the team do so if the punishment felt unfair.
“I thought I would ask a question,” he said. “I knew what the answer would be before I asked, but maybe I just wanted a little faint light of hope that I could get it back. I knew it wouldn’t happen.
“There’s nothing (McLaren denied the request), and Rand did nothing wrong. I don’t think it was particularly fair to trade, but I thought I would at least ask. I don’t think it would change much for the championship. I did what I needed today.
