McLaren Boss Claims Oscar Piastri Was "Robbed" of British GP Win

2026-04-14 19:37:27

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has suggested

Oscar Piastri

‘s rivals might have made his controversial infringement in the British Grand Prix "look worse" than what it actually was. Piastri and the majority of

F1

were left fuming at his second-place finish on Sunday, with many of the belief he was robbed of the victory.

The Aussie driver copped a contentious 10-second penalty while leading the race, which sent him back behind eventual winner Lando Norris. Piastri was convinced he was hard done-by and asked his McLaren team to order Norris to give the position back, but his plea fell on deaf ears. In what could be a championship-defining moment, stewards ruled that Piastri braked dangerously behind a safety car that had been deployed, which caused Max Verstappen to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Stewards found that Piastri applied 59.2 PSI of brake pressure and reduced speed from 218 km/h to just to 52 km/h, which left Verstappen fuming behind him. The Dutch world champion threw up his arms in disgust as he inadvertently overtook his Aussie rival, saying: "Whoa, mate, f***, he just suddenly slows down again."

Piastri was found to have braked erratically and was hit with a 10-second time penalty. And while the general consensus was that Piastri did the wrong thing, the 10-second penalty was deemed way too harsh by the majority watching on.

McLaren boss floats eye-opening new theory

Speaking after the race, McLaren team principal Stella described the punishment as "very harsh", and pointed out the safety car was called very late. He also suggested there might have been some "race craft" involved in the response from rival drivers.

“We’ll have to see also if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is, because we know that the race craft for some competitors, definitely, there’s also the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not," Stella said. “So, a few things to review, but in itself, now the penalty has been decided, has been served, and we move on. I think we will see if there’s anything to learn on our side, and I’m sure Oscar will use this motivation for being even more determined for the races to come and try and win as many races as possible.”

Oscar Piastri left fuming after British Grand Prix

The Aussie

championship leader

insisted he was "well within the rules" and that he had already performed the manoeuvre once in the race. "I don’t really get it. I hit the brakes, and at the same time as I did, the lights went out on the safety car," Piastri said. "I didn’t accelerate because I can control the pace from there.

"I didn’t do anything differently to my first restart. I didn’t go slower. I don’t think Max had to evade me. So I am a bit confused to say the least. I know I deserved a lot more than I did today and when you don’t get the result you deserve, it hurts.

"Apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore. I had done it for five laps before but I’m not going to say more, I’m going to get myself in trouble. I still like Silverstone even if I don’t like it today."

Piastri said he knew in his heart that team bosses would never order Norris to switch with him, but he asked anyway. "I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked. But I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that I could get it back but I knew it wasn’t going to happen," he admitted.

"Lando didn’t do anything wrong so I don’t think it would have been fair to swap, but I thought I should ask. It doesn’t change much for the championship. I felt I did a good job and I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races."

Max Verstappen surprised Oscar Piastri was penalised

Many F1 fans pointed out that George Russell performed a similar move in the recent Canadian Grand Prix, but didn’t cop the same penalty. Social media was flooded with complaints that Piastri had been ‘robbed’ and the penalty was too heavy, and even Verstappen admitted he was surprised by the 10-second sanction.

“I only found out after the race [that Piastri was penalised]," he said post-race. "It has happened to me a few times, this kind of scenario. I find it strange that Oscar is the first to receive 10 seconds for it.”

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Lando Norris cuts Oscar Piastr’s lead in championship

Norris’ victory saw him cut Piastri’s lead in the championship to just eight points. Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg finished third (from 19th at the start) to secure his

first-ever podium in his 239th race

of a career that began in 2010.

with agencies

This article originally appeared on Yahoo Sport Australia at
https://au.news.yahoo.com/f1-controversy-erupts-as-oscar-piastri-robbed-of-victory-in-british-gp-by-harsh-decision-205559636.html