Oscar Piastri On The Penalty, “Didn’t Get The Result I Deserved…”

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Oscar Piastri, the championship leader, had a nightmare race at the British Grand Prix 2025. While teammate Lando Norris had a dream race as he won his first-ever home race on Sunday, Oscar had a rough weekend after getting served with a 10-second penalty. So what really happened? Let’s see.

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What Happened With Oscar Piastri?

Oscar Piastri, driving for McLaren, started in second position, behind Max Verstappen. However, he overtook him eventually, leading the race for most of the laps. With the race getting interrupted with rain and multiple safety cars, he didn’t lose his lead till the closing laps. However, his nightmare started during a safety car restart on lap 21, when Piastri was at the front. As the safety car was about to leave the track, Piastri pulled his brakes hard, causing Verstappen to slow down to avoid a crash.

This behavior was called “erratic braking” as he went from 218 km/h to 52 km/h too quickly. As the cars exited the next corner, Verstappen flew to the inside of the track, losing his second place and dropping to 10th. Even though he managed to finish in fifth place, this move by Oscar Piastri was duly noted by the FIA stewards, who gave him a 10-second penalty for the breach.

Oscar Piastri then had to serve the penalty during his final pit stop, which gave his team-mate Lando Norris the race lead. The Aussie clearly felt the penalty was unfair as he asked his team to swap the cars before the checkered flag, but the team cleared that there would be no team orders, which led to Norris winning the race, while Piastri finished second even after the penalty.

The 10-Second Penalty

The statement issued by the stewards said, “Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 [Piastri] to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off. What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article. In accordance with the penalty guidelines, we imposed a 10-second time penalty to Car 81.”

Piastri On The Penalty

Initially, after the race, he was reluctant to say much about the penalty, worrying that it would get him in trouble. He said, “I’m not going to say much, I’ll get myself in trouble. Well done to Nico – I think that’s the highlight of the day. I’ll leave it there. Apparently you can’t brake behind the Safety Car anymore. I did it for five laps before that and, again, I’m not going to say too much because I’ll get myself in trouble. But thanks to the crowd for a great event, thanks for sticking through the weather. I still like Silverstone even if I don’t like it today. Thanks for coming out, everyone.”

However, speaking to the media later on, he explained what happened and how he felt about the penalty. He shared, “I thought the penalty was pretty bad, but anyway, I’m glad we had a quick car today, showed what I needed to prove, and it’s just disappointing when what you deserve gets taken from you, but that’s how it goes. I hit the brakes, saw the Safety Car lights went off, so I didn’t accelerate again, and Max [Verstappen] went past me, which was a bit strange, and then I got a penalty for it, so about as simple as that. The pace was good, I did everything I needed to, just didn’t get the result I deserved.”

According to the rules, when the safety car lights go out, the leader must not brake suddenly or do anything dangerous. But Oscar Piastri braked much harder than normal, which was not safe, hence the penalty.

Also Read: Lando Norris Takes That Much-Awaited First Home Win At Silverstone 2025

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