Mark Webber delivers his verdict on whether Oscar Piastri deserved his Brazilian Grand Prix penalty

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Oscar Piastri’s 2025 Formula 1 title hopes were dealt a major blow at the Brazilian Grand Prix after another disappointing weekend.

McLaren teammate Lando Norris gained 23 points over him, which gives the Briton a commanding lead with three races to go. In fact, he’s now a heavy favourite to win the drivers’ championship, and it feels as though all the momentum is with him.

Piastri will be desperate to turn the tide. Crashing out of the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint wasn’t part of his plans, but there was little he could do. On Sunday, an optimistic dive cost him more points, as the stewards held him accountable for a turn one incident that he could have done little to avoid.

Jacques Villeneuve felt Piastri’s penalty was ‘tough’, as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli opted to leave him little space on the inside. McLaren admitted a Piastri error led him to have a more difficult weekend than he should have in Sao Paulo. They’ll know they have to do better in Las Vegas at the next event.

READ MORE: Martin Brundle and David Croft give their verdict on Oscar Piastri’s Brazilian Grand Prix penalty

Mark Webber feels Oscar Piastri deserved ‘more’ consideration for Brazilian Grand Prix penalty

Mark Webber is helping Piastri behind the scenes and has experience of being in a similar situation to what his client currently faces from back in 2010. He missed out on winning the title that year and will desperately want him to avoid the same fate.

His 10-second time penalty for hitting Antonelli in Sao Paulo arguably cost him eight points. When he received the caution on lap 15, he was in second place, three seconds behind Norris. Piastri went on to fifth and was a long way adrift of victory.

Leclerc doesn’t think Piastri was at fault for the entire incident, and cameras showed the Aussie in control of his car, with nowhere to go. It’s just unfortunate that Antonelli didn’t expect him to make such an optimistic dive.

Piastri’s manager, Webber, felt as though the stewards’ verdict was harsh. He thinks that the safety car restart should have been treated a bit like lap one, with more room given to drivers caught up in incidents.

“I think it’s a little like a first lap incident,” he said on Channel 4. “Normally, they give a little bit more room for a first lap, because it was a restart. He got a good restart, Kimi had a bit more room to his right, so he was the meat in a sandwich.

“Could’ve maybe cooperated a little bit more. 10 seconds, as we know, with this field, that’s just so hard to get back. Oscar lost a lot of points with that penalty.”

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

Why Oscar Piastri cannot be counted out of the 2025 Formula 1 title hunt yet

The next two races are ones that Piastri has a solid chance of making up some ground on his teammate in.

Just under two weeks away is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is a track that McLaren always struggles at. Norris crashed there in 2023.

And the following event in Qatar is one that Piastri has excelled at, winning last year. It was also the site of his first win in any format in 2023.

So, it’s still all to play for heading into Abu Dhabi. A retirement for any one of the contenders at this stage could also blow things wide open. Now is not the time to take an eye off the ball.