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

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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri showed just how desperate he is to win the drivers’ championship at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

After Lando Norris took pole position and led from the front on the opening lap, a safety car provided one of Sunday’s key talking points at Interlagos.

Hometown hero Gabriel Bortoleto’s nightmare weekend came to an end before the end of the first lap after hitting the barrier following contact with Lance Stroll.

Norris led his teammate Oscar Piastri down to the first corner, who was three abreast alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.

The McLaren driver was down the inside, but a small lock-up saw him hit Antonelli, who couldn’t avoid crashing into Leclerc, breaking his suspension in the process.

Piastri moved up into second as a result, but couldn’t close to within DRS range of the drivers’ championship leader Norris to try and take the lead of the race.

Sebastian Vettel gave Piastri some advice before the race on how to win the championship, and while he had to be daring, it ultimately cost him.

Martin Brundle and David Croft gave their immediate reactions to the incident, and the former F1 driver explained why Piastri might be ‘relieved’ that the stewards only gave him a 10-second penalty for his role in Leclerc’s race coming to an end.

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Oscar Piastri penalised at the Brazilian Grand Prix for crashing into Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc

Croft was commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1 (9/11 5:27 pm) when the penalty was announced and said: “Oscar Piastri has a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, which I’m not overly surprised about.”

Brundle replied: “And nor will he be. I think he might be quite relieved that it’s not anything more than that, actually, because of the consequences of the incident.

“One driver out, for example, in Leclerc. But anyway, that’s the standard penalty, no mitigating circumstances. I’m not surprised, but McLaren’s job now is to get him 10 seconds clear, and he’s 1.9 seconds clear of Antonelli at the moment.

“So, Oscar Piastri, it gave him a lovely track position, but it’s not given him quite a headache.”

Croft continued: “I think that’s the thing. With Piastri, he had to take the opportunity, any opportunity coming his way.

“And that 10 seconds might be offset by how much he could have lost from the championship leader, had he stayed down in fourth place.”

Brundle concluded: “Yeah, because you have to go down the inside. There was a gap there, but you don’t know, maybe the two in front of you lock up and slide wide.

“He had to have a go, there’s no doubt about that. But the penalty is fair cop.”

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Oscar Piastri needs a miracle to win the drivers’ championship after Brazilian Grand Prix error

Piastri didn’t lose out to Norris in Brazil because he was adjudged to have been at fault for his collision with Antonelli, and in turn, Leclerc was taken out of the race.

The Australian was never at the same level as Norris during qualifying for both the Sprint Race and Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Piastri admitted he needed to put pressure on Norris, but his crash in the Sprint Race would have dented his confidence, as well as having a significant impact on his points tally.

Ted Kravitz reported from the pit lane that McLaren thought it was a penalty that could have gone either way.

No team is ever going to suggest that their driver was solely at fault, which means this was the closest that McLaren were ever going to come to admitting their man was in the wrong.