Jolyon Palmer says Oscar Piastri’s Brazil penalty ‘doesn’t feel right’, this is why he’s spot on

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Oscar Piastri lost more vital ground in the Formula 1 title fight at the Brazilian Grand Prix as teammate Lando Norris stretched his title advantage.

The Aussie lacked a cutting edge all weekend, which included crashing out of the sprint and underdelivering once more. McLaren may be a bit worried that he has now gone five race weekends without appearing on the podium, damaging his drivers’ championship hopes.

The pressure is ramping up on Piastri, who has to find a way to win at least two of the next three races if he wants to become world champion. Otherwise, he’ll be left to rue how a golden opportunity faded away at the end of a long Formula 1 season.

McLaren admitted a Piastri error in Sao Paulo led to him having a more difficult weekend than he should’ve had. Leclerc didn’t think Piastri was to blame for an accident they had early in the race, which resulted in the Ferrari driver retiring from the race. The stewards felt otherwise, though.

READ MORE: Sebastian Vettel tells Oscar Piastri what he needs to do to beat Lando Norris in the F1 championship

Jolyon Palmer’s ‘doesn’t feel right’ assessment of Oscar Piastri’s Brazil penalty was spot on

Piastri knew putting pressure on Norris would be tough, and his assignment has just become as difficult as it has looked all season. In fact, his teammate could win the title in Qatar if he and Max Verstappen fail to stop him from winning.

In Sao Paulo, a 10-second time penalty that he received for clipping Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli into the side of Leclerc damaged his race. It put him in traffic and arguably stripped him of the chance to compete for a podium.

Jolyon Palmer shared his views on the matter immediately after the stewards’ verdict was given, and he didn’t agree with them.

“It doesn’t feel right to me,” he shared on Channel 4. “It’s judged on the outcome, but the outcome only looks bad because Antonelli is coming across. If Oscar doesn’t hit the brakes, he’d stay there and they’d still have a big incident because Antonelli would come across.

“Then you’d say it’s Antonelli’s fault. Tricky one for Kimi, I’m not blaming him because he’s in the middle of a three-car sandwich, so he has got to turn in.”

And Palmer is completely right. Piastri had full control of his car at turn one, and cameras showed that he was squeezed to the inside as much as he could have been. Antonelli opted to turn in, and Piastri had nowhere to go.

Should Piastri have rolled off the brakes and gone into the side of Antonelli, he might have avoided a penalty, but caused more carnage. If he hadn’t hugged the kerb or looked like sailing through the corner, a penalty would have been understandable. But, in this instance, it’s slightly confusing.

READ MORE: Mark Webber shares how he’s helping Oscar Piastri behind the scenes and makes Lewis Hamilton comparison

Why Oscar Piastri’s Brazilian Grand Prix was a disaster in the context of the Formula 1 title fight

The paddock thought Norris would be the quicker starter in 2025, but instead, it was his teammate who found a way to take and hold the championship lead for nearly six months.

Now that he’s behind, it’s hard to see Piastri finding a way to match Norris in the final three races, let alone claw back a 24-point deficit.

For McLaren, it could create a bit of a problem in Las Vegas and Qatar. As previously mentioned, allowing Norris to outscore him by two points over the next two race weekends will kill his hopes.

So expect to see a nothing-to-lose attitude from the Aussie for the rest of November. If he’s going to lose anyway, he might as well go down fighting.