Oscar Piastri was running at the front of the field in Sunday’s British Grand Prix, leading the pack under safety car conditions as the weather significantly impacted the running order.
But just as the safety car period was coming to an end, a braking decision from Piastri not only brought second-place Max Verstappen right alongside him, but also opened the door for Piastri’s McLaren teammate to take the win at Silverstone.
On Lap 21 of the British Grand Prix the yellow flag was out due to wet conditions on the track, but the safety car was coming in and green flag racing was set to resume. As Piastri led the field through the final turns he suddenly brakes with Verstappen behind him. That forced Verstappen to pull to his right to avoid contact with the McLaren in front of him, and race stewards immediately cited the incident for further investigation.
A few laps later they handed down a severe decision, assessing Piastri a ten-second penalty for a “safety car infringement.” That effectively ended any chance Piastri had at a win in the British Grand Prix, and Norris took advantage, winning his second consecutive race.
As the final laps ticked down, race officials issued their written decision. Citing “positioning/marshalling system data, video, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence,” they noted that Piastri drove erratically in breach of the regulations.
When the clerk of the course had declared that the safety car was coming in that lap and the lights were extinguished, Car 81 suddenly braked hard (59.2 psi of brake pressure) and reduced speed in the middle of the straight between T14 and T15, from 218 kph to 52 kph, resulting in Car 1 having to take evasive action to avoid a collision. This momentarily resulted in Car 1 unavoidably overtaking Car 81, a position which he gave back immediately.
Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 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.
Here is Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, in full:
When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message “SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP” will be sent to all Competitors using the official messaging system and the car’s orange lights will be extinguished. This will be the signal to the Competitors and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap.
At this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than ten (10) car lengths behind it.
In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.
As the safety car is approaching the pit entry road the SC boards will be withdrawn and, other than on the last lap of the sprint session or the race, as the leader approaches the Line the yellow flags will be withdrawn and a green flag and/or green light panel will be displayed at the Line.
Race officials likely focused on that third paragraph, which includes the language “drivers must proceed at a pace which involved no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other [manoeuvre] which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart.”
Jolyon Palmer and David Coulthard, in the F1TV commentary box, noted that as the race resumed under green flag conditions Verstappen spun almost immediately, which may have factored in how race officials viewed the incident, fairly or not.
Here is Verstappen’s spin:
Piastri certainly took exception with the decision. As the laps ticked down at Silverstone he asked McLaren to issue team orders, giving him P1 back from Norris due to a penalty he disagreed with. The team declined the request, and speaking with former driver Jenson Button trackside after the race Piastri declined further comment, noting that he did not want to get in “trouble” for saying the wrong thing.
Piastri held on for second ahead of Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg, who finished third for the first podium of his lengthy F1 career. But one can expect this will not be the final discussion of the ten-second penalty.
As a result of Piastri’s second-place finish — and Norris’ win — the gap from Piastri to Norris in the F1 Drivers’ Championship standings is down to just eight points.
