Was Oscar Piestri harmed by the FIA in the GP of Great Britain?
The McLaren pilot was sanctioned with 10 seconds in the race and gave the victory to Lando Norris
Silverstone, England – although he modeled his responses to the media on Sunday night, Oscar Piastri He could not hide his emotion in answering innumerable questions about the penalty of 10 seconds that cost him the victory in the Great Britain Prize. For fear of causing the anger of the FIA, He offered brief and concise responses to television cameras, refusing to deepen the true feelings that were undoubtedly afflicting him.
Finish your work with the media long before your enthusiastic teammate, the winner of the race, Lando Norris, It meant that Piastri had to wait only 25 minutes in the press room before the mandatory session written with the media began. When he arrived, Piastri maintained a balance between not hiding his frustration and expressing his true emotions.
“Obviously, it hurts at this time,” he began. “However, it is a different pain, because I know that I deserved much more than I received today. I felt I did a very good career.”
“And yes, in the end, when you don’t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts. Especially when you don’t have control.”
Famous for its tranquility on the radio of the team and its impenetrable reactions to the victories, Oscar Piastri He is an expert in keeping his emotions under control.
Until return 21 and a second restart with security car, he had done everything well in Silverstonebut a strong touch of brake cost him the victory and a difference of 14 points in the classification of pilots in favor of Norris.
On Sunday night there was no doubt that Piastri did not intend to do anything improper or get an advantage caught off Max Verstappenthe pilot behind. Two consecutive periods with the security car that covered seven laps caused the cooling of piastri tires and brakes, and the best way to recover the temperature was to stop tightly and take advantage of the heat generated by incandescent carbon discs.
“Frené,” Piastri explained. “At the same time, the safety car lights went out, which was also extremely late (in the return).”
“And then, obviously, I didn’t accelerate because I can control the rhythm from there. And yes, they saw the result. I did nothing different from my first resumption. I did not lower the speed. I did nothing different.”
But the abrupt braking, and the fact that Piastri did not accelerate immediately after, made Verstappen, that he was second, was surprised. Red Bull driver advanced to McLareninfringing one of the simplest rules with self -safety when advancing to the front car.
At first, it seemed that Max Verstappen It would be investigated, but the commissioners focused on the actions of Oscar Piastri Like the cause.
With access to telemetry of McLarenthe commissioners were able to analyze the exact action of the brakes and accurately measure the difference of 160 km/h before and after their left foot stepped on the pedal. What they found led them to conclude that Piastri had violated another norm under Safety Car that prohibits erratic driving.
A statement from the Cice Commissioners: “When the race director announced the safety car exit in that turn and turned off the lights, the 81 car abruptly stopped (59.2 PSI of brake pressure) and reduced the speed in the middle of the line between curves 14 and 15, 218 km/h (135 mph) at 52 km/h (32 mph), which forced a car 1 to perform a maneuver evasive to avoid a collision. ”
“This caused the car 1 to momentarily advance to car 81, a position that it yielded immediately. Article 55.15 of the FIA Sports Regulation demanded that the car 81 move forward at a rate that would not imply erratic braking or any other maneuver that could endanger other pilots from the moment the safety car would go out. What did the car 81 infraction of that article ”.
The rule that prohibits erratic driving behind the security car exists to avoid chaotic reset. If the leading pilot accelerates and brakes sharply after the security car has indicated that it returns to boxes, it can cause an encontonation that can lead to incidents behind.
While Piastri did not seem to look for advantage over Verstappen (his abrupt braking coincided with the off the safety car lights instead of trying to interrupt the restart of the Red Bull After the lights went out), it was a significant deceleration that caused the pile of pilots behind. Therefore, under a strict interpretation of the sports regulations, it deserved a sanction.
As expected, the team director McLaren, Andrea Stellawho also reviewed the data before talking with the media on Sunday night, said the incident had been exaggerated. He also suggested that Verstappen acted in a way that perhaps caused Piastri’s actions to seem … worse.
“I must say that the sanction still seems very severe,” Stella reiterated. “There are some factors that we would like the commissioners to take into account.”
“In the first place, the security car entered (A PITS) very late, which did not give much time to the leader to restart the race in conditions in which temperature is lost, the temperature of the brakes is lost and the same goes for all. The 50 bars (brake pressure) are a pressure that is observed during the safety car when braking and accelerating.”
“We will also have to see if other competitors made the situation look worse than it is, because we know that, as part of the experience of some pilots, there is also the ability to make others seem to be committing serious infractions when it is not,” he said.
“So there are some aspects to review, but the sanction has already been decided, it has been fulfilled and we continue. We will see if there is something to learn from our part, and I am sure that Oscar will use this motivation to be even more determined in the next races and try to win as many as possible.”
Max Verstappen He clearly did not want to enter the subject when talking with the media, but questioned why Piastri received a sanction when similar situations in the past had not been sanctioned.
“You know, the point is that it happened to me several times, this type of situation,” Verstappen said. “It seems strange to me that suddenly Oscar is the first to receive 10 seconds for it.”
The question of consistency was also raised by the director of Red Bull, Christian Hornerbased on the precedent of the failed protest of his team against George Russell after Canada Grand Prix. In Montreal, Red Bull He accused Russell of driving erratically behind the security car in an incident with clear similarities with Sunday, but his protest was rejected by the commissioners.
“That is, George obviously did not receive a sanction in Canada“Horner recalled.” I was not surprised to see Pastri receive a penalty. It was expected. To be honest, it was probably more surprising that George did not receive one in Montreal“
However, the conclusions of the commissioners in the two investigations of Canada and Silverstone They presented very clear differences: Russell’s brake pressure in Canada It was measured in 30 psi, while Piastri’s was almost double, and Russell only decelerated just over 64 km/h, while Piastri did it in 160 km/h.
If we add the different track conditions in both examples, as well as the incidents that occurred in different phases of the restart with the security car, it is difficult to establish credible parallels.
In addition, Piastri was responsible for emphasizing what, in his opinion, was another key difference between both incidents.
“I don’t think (Verstappen) had to evade me. I think he did the first time (with the first security car).”
“Returning to Canada, I think they had to evade more than today. So, I am a little confused, at least.”
Did McLaren issue equipment orders?
The penalty of 10 seconds to Piastri led him to leave behind Norris after both made their last stops in the race to change smicks. Clearly with difficulties to accept the result, Piastri asked if the two pilots could exchange positions, although he knew that the team was unlikely to accept.
“I thought about asking,” he explained after the race. “I knew what the answer would be before asking, but I just wanted a small ray of hope. But no, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.”
Stella did not care that her pilot raised the idea and said that the boxes wall had carefully thought about the fairest way that the race was developed, with a scenario that still benefits Piastri.
“As part of our way of competing with Lando and Oscar, we always tell our pilots: ‘Nothing is kept in the head when competing,” he said. “‘If you have a point of view, a suggestion, if you mean what they think, simply tell you. And then we will evaluate it a little more, we will make a decision and answer them.”
“So I think that what Oscar did was exactly what we encouraged our pilots. He communicated, expressed his opinion, which we evaluated. Actually, the way we manage the situation today, given the sanction, was to allow Oscar, despite the sanction, in the case of a safety car, maintain the leaders sanction while Lando would have waited, and the two McLaren They would have come out in the same order in which they entered. ”
“But at the time we needed the transition to dry tires, the penalty was applied, and at that time we thought we should maintain the natural order again until the penalty. So I think it was fair, and I am sure that Oscar will understand and will agree with this point of view.”
The consequence of the penalty was an important house victory for Norris and the reduction of Piastri’s advantage in the classification of pilots to only eight points. This marks Norris’s third victory in five races, while in the fight for the pilot championship the British continues to win impulse.
Oscar Piastri He had been the fastest pilot at the beginning of the race, which makes his frustration for the result of the commissioners’ investigation to be understandable, although not at all justifiable.
“The whole team did a really good job, the car was spectacular, and, recognizing my merit, I feel I did a good job today,” he reflected. “It simply makes it more painful when you don’t win.”
