06/07/2025
NEWS STORY
Silverstone stewards explain why Oscar Piastri was given a 10s penalty for erratic braking under the Safety Car during today's Grand Prix.
When the clerk of the course declared that the safety car was coming in that lap and the lights were extinguished, Piastri 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 Max Verstappen having to take evasive action to avoid a collision.
This momentarily resulted in the Red Bull driver unavoidably overtaking Car 81, a position which he gave back immediately.
Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required the Australian to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off.
According to the stewards what Piastri did was clearly a breach of that article and in accordance with the penalty guidelines imposed a 10 second time penalty, along with 2 penalty points (giving him a total of 6 for the 12 month period).
Speaking immediately after the race Piastri refused to comment for fear of saying the wrong thing and incurring further punishment. However in the cool down room ahead of the podium ceremony he insisted that he braked at exactly the same time the lights went out on the Safety Car.
"The Safety Car seemed like it was called in a bit late," Zak Brown told Sky Sports. "The leader controls... I think Max accelerated, Oscar braked, which made it look worse than it was," he added.
"The telemetry didn't look like it looked on TV," he insisted. "But it is what it is. I think any time you get into these penalties, there's an element of subjectivity. I think when they're pounding on the brakes, they're 130-140 PSI, so trying to get temperature in the tyres, it's wet, late call... a close one."
"We certainly gave our input to the race director, especially related to the fact that we thought the Safety Car was called in relatively late," said team boss Andrea Stella. "This didn't give much space for the leading driver to actually take control of the group and go with the restarting procedure.
"We think overall that the penalty has been harsh," he added, "but we will review the data. As usual, we will see if there's any learning from that.
"At the moment, there's not much we can do. We just have to take it on the chin.
"A tough one for Oscar because he drove very well today. But it's just mid-season. There are many more opportunities and I think this will give Oscar more motivation."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone here.