Peter Windsor thinks ‘ludicrous’ FIA are now ‘ruining F1’ after what he saw at the British Grand Prix

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Oscar Piastri was forced to give up a potential victory at the British Grand Prix when the FIA Stewards penalised him for a Safety Car infringement.

The Australian was handed a 10-second time penalty for braking harshly behind the Safety Car and causing the field to bunch up just before the restart, with Max Verstappen almost causing a collision.

The penalty put him out of contention for the race win, as it allowed Lando Norris to overtake him during the final pit stops, while Piastri disputed the penalty over team radio and when speaking to the media after the race.

It was the second time Verstappen was caught up in an incident, after he was taken out by Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Antonelli was given a three-place grid penalty for the race at Silverstone, but Peter Windsor thinks it should have been harsher after seeing another penalty issued by the FIA Stewards when speaking on the Cameron CC podcast.

Peter Windsor calls out FIA for ‘ludicrous’ Oliver Bearman penalty

Oliver Bearman was handed a 10-place grid penalty for his first British GP after speeding under a red flag and crashing at the pit entry during FP3.

The stewards took a dim view of Bearman’s driving due to the safety implications it could’ve had, but Windsor felt the penalty was overly harsh considering what Antonelli did in Austria.

“The problem is the whole business of penalties in F1 is ludicrous and secondly, the guidelines as they are drawn up are ludicrous as well because there are so many grey areas in everything in F1. To start having black and white rules that the stewards have to adhere to is insane and it’s ruining F1,” said Windsor.

“A good example of what I’m saying, the penalty Oliver Bearman was given for making a mistake. He got a 10-place grid penalty for that, which is a lot, bearing in mind that he got into Q3.

“The week before, Kimi Antonelli does the same thing and goes into the second corner of the race, takes out Max Verstappen and only gets a three-place grid penalty the following race. What Kimi did was much worse than what Bearman did. If they are so pedantic about the red, just have a speed limit.”

FIA releases F1 penalty guidelines for the first time

The governing body has now made the penalty guidelines used by the stewards to determine penalties available for everyone to see on their website.

The latest guidelines came into force at the end of last season for the start of the 2025 championship, after consultation between the drivers.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the guidelines have been a “core tool” for a decade used by the stewards when determining penalties for infractions on track.

The governing body also published the latest edition of the driving standards guidelines, which dictate when a penalty should be enforced for a driver.