Oscar Piastri admitted it would not have been equitable for Lando Norris to lose his British Grand Prix victory if McLaren had agreed to Piastri`s request to revert their positions after he incurred a penalty that cost him the lead.
The championship leader, Piastri, was notably upset by the 10-second penalty issued by the stewards for an incident just before the Safety Car restart on lap 22. The stewards determined he had braked too sharply in front of Max Verstappen on the Hangar Straight.
Piastri had to serve the penalty during his subsequent pit stop. When he pitted for slick tires, he was only two seconds ahead of Norris. The 10-second sanction required his mechanics to wait in the McLaren pit box before they could service his car.
Norris consequently took the lead and maintained it after his own pit stop for slicks on the following lap.
McLaren also expressed dissatisfaction with the stewards` ruling, with team principal Andrea Stella later calling it “very harsh.” With seven laps remaining, Piastri asked the team over the radio if they would consider swapping positions back if they also felt the penalty was unjust.
Piastri`s race engineer confirmed three laps later that no team orders would be issued.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, while still disappointed by the penalty that likely denied him a victory in his close championship contest with Norris, Piastri acknowledged that a position swap would not have been the correct action.
“I thought I would ask the question,” said Piastri. “I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked. But I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn`t going to happen.
“I don`t think there was anything wrong with it [Lando keeping the lead]. Lando didn`t do anything wrong. I don`t think it would have been particularly fair to have swapped, but I thought I would at least ask.”
McLaren Welcomed Piastri`s Request Despite Not Granting It
Team principal Andrea Stella explained that, consistent with the team`s philosophy of open communication, they had no issue with Piastri raising the possibility of swapping positions back.
Stella added that although they ultimately decided against the swap after internal pit wall discussion, they had initially allowed Piastri to hold the lead on track. This was because if another Safety Car period had occurred, both cars would likely have pitted together, Piastri would have served his penalty, Norris would have waited, and they would have rejoined in the same relative order anyway.
Stella elaborated on the team`s decision: “As a team and with Lando and Oscar, we always tell our drivers, `don`t keep things in the back of your mind when you drive`. If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want to let us know what you are thinking, just say it. Then we will evaluate it on the pit wall, make a decision and come back to you.
“Oscar did exactly what we encourage our drivers to do. He communicated, he expressed his opinion, which we evaluated.
“The way we handled the situation today, considering the penalty, was to let Oscar keep the lead initially in case of a Safety Car… However, at the point we needed to switch to dry tires, the penalty was applied, and we decided to maintain the natural order that resulted. So I think this was fair for both, and I`m sure that Oscar will understand and agree to this point of view.”
Marcus Prine