Martin Brundle disagrees with David Coulthard’s verdict on Oscar Piastri’s British Grand Prix penalty

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Lando Norris became the latest British driver to win his home Formula 1 race at the British Grand Prix on Sunday.

Silverstone has been a happy hunting ground for Lando Norris, and he added to his two previous podiums at the British Grand Prix as he finally stood on the top step of the podium in front of his own dedicated grandstand.

However, there’s another scenario which would have seen his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, earn his sixth victory of the season.

The mixed conditions at the beginning of Sunday’s race made life extremely tricky for every driver, with every rookie except Oliver Bearman failing to finish the race.

Piastri made his way past a struggling Max Verstappen and built up a 13-second lead before the safety car came out.

That was the moment the race changed, and Piastri’s furious post-race radio message highlights the injustice he thinks was done at Silverstone.

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Martin Brundle thinks Oscar Piastri’s British Grand Prix penalty was fair

The final safety car of the race saw Piastri back up the pack with conditions beginning to improve.

A late decision was made to bring the safety car in while the lead drivers were on the Hangar Straight, and Piastri, who was accelerating at the time, quickly hit the brakes.

Sam Bird thinks Verstappen made Piastri’s deceleration look worse than it was, but the stewards disagreed.

Piastri was awarded a 10-second penalty, and reflecting on the decision for Sky Sports F1 (6/7 4:05 pm), Martin Brundle and David Croft had their say.

Brundle explained: “They need mitigating circumstances to drop that [penalty] to five seconds, or indeed no penalty at all.

“He was almost stationary, wasn’t he? I hear what Zak is saying, Max did floor it down the outside to emphasise, but that was extremely slow from Oscar.”

Croft replied: “He was almost at a standstill,” to which Brundle continued: “Yeah, it looked [like that] from our camera angle, but they’ll have that to the nth degree in the data.”

Neither commentator could disagree with the decision that the stewards made, and Piastri admitted that he would be ‘banned’ if he had shared his true feelings after the race.

However, Jolyon Palmer thought Piastri’s penalty was heavy-handed from the stewards and believed it was very harsh.

The Australian decided not to give any detailed answers during his post-race interview, holding his tongue instead of arguing with the call made by the stewards.

David Coulthard believes Oscar Piastri’s British Grand Prix penalty was ‘harsh’

After the race on Channel 4, David Coulthard shared his thoughts on the race-defining incident.

He said: “When you’re behind the safety car with the lights off, you have to stay within 10 car lengths of that safety car, keeping the field going with you.

“Once the safety car lights go out, you then control the pace for the restart. You want to allow the safety car to get off into the pit lane.

“And it’s the fact that he’s accelerated, then decelerated, that’s caught Max out, and then the stewards have either, I assume, used the information that’s available.

“Max has got space, it’s not like he’s on the grass, but that was enough for them to go, that’s erratic behaviour behind the safety car, and that’s why they’ve given the 10-second penalty.

“Do I think the penalty fits the crime? No. If that’s consistent with things they’ve done in the past, then that should be a smaller penalty.

“He hasn’t forced anyone off the road, seeing it from Max’s point of view, he hasn’t had to lock up, he hasn’t had to take massive avoiding action, I’m forever going to think that’s harsh until someone convinces me otherwise.”

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Jenson Button praises Oscar Piastri despite losing out on British Grand Prix victory

Piastri was asked about the race in an interview with Jenson Button, and he simply said: “Yeah, I’m not going to say much. I’ll get myself in trouble. So well done to Nico. I think that’s the highlight of the day. So yeah, I’ll leave it there.”

Button then pushed Piastri on the safety car infringement decision, and he continued: “Yeah, I mean, apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore. I mean, I did it for five laps before that.

“Again, I’m not going to say too much or I’ll get myself in trouble. But thanks to the crowd for a great event.

“Thanks for sticking through the weather. I still like Silverstone even if I don’t like it today. So, thanks for coming out, everyone.”

Button was impressed with Piastri’s radio message asking Norris to give his lead back if McLaren believed his penalty was unfair.

It suddenly put the pressure on Zak Brown and Andrea Stella to decide whether the stewards made the right call.

If they had instructed Norris to slow down, it would have been an incredibly unpopular decision among fans at Silverstone, but there will be plenty more opportunities for Piastri to challenge his teammate for the rest of the season.