F1 world turns on Piastri as ‘angry side' exposed for first time

Daily Telegraph

2 days ago

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Formula 1 icon Martin Brundle says fans are seeing the 'angry side' of Aussie Oscar Piastri for the first time.
There are some motorsport figures and countless social media users who can't handle it.
The McLaren driver has come under fire for his behaviour following the British Grand Prix where a 10-second penalty cost him a race win.
As McLaren teammate Lando Norris charged to win his home race at Silverstone, Piastri made a desperate request for his team to order Norris to switch positions.
His request was centred around messages from his team that they also believed FIA stewards were wrong to penalise the Melburnian for an unsafe re-start when a safety car pulled into the pits on Lap 22. The 24-year-old's sudden braking forced Max Verstappen to take evasive action.
Piastri was visibly frustrated with how the race had unfolded and let his emotions show in his first interviews in parc ferme.
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He said he did not want to say much about the penalty because he was going to 'get himself in trouble'.
It was on team radio when first informed his request had been denied that he was at his most aggrieved, saying: 'I think I'll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here'.
Brundle has now written in his skysports.com column Piastri's bold request was 'more than cheeky'.
'It seems the Drivers' Championship showdown will indeed be between Piastri and Norris, and we can expect some fireworks there.
Watch the moment Oscar Piastri was penalised for in the video above
Oscar Piastri congratulates Lando Norris on the win. (Photo by)
'That's the first time we've seen the angry side of the calm silent Aussie assassin.
'Oscar's radio call for the places to be swapped if the team thought he'd received an unfair penalty was more than cheeky, though.'
F1 analyst Peter Windsor also said Piastri's team order request was something he hadn't seen before.
'Oscar got on the radio and quite surprisingly and I think quite intelligently said that whole thing with the safety car was ridiculous, we should be basically appealing that, we should reverse positions now on that basis and then race to the finish,' he said on YouTube.
'Which I can't remember any driver ever saying that and you've got to give him full marks for thinking laterally there and he was the quicker driver over the weekend for McLaren and there he is being super aggressive on the radio about something like that and of course had they not decided to serve that 10-second penalty in Oscar's pit stop and waited till the end of the race.'
Oscar Piastri during the British Grand Prix press conference. Photo: X and @F1.
F1 journalist James Elson also understood Piastri's anger because the former Alpine driver had been the superior driver in the McLaren garage all weekend.
'Aside from that misdemeanour, Piastri bossed most of the race,' Elson wrote in motorsportmagazine.com.
'Once dispensing with Max Verstappen early on, the Australian kept Norris at arm's length throughout – the Brit was never in the same league as his McLaren colleague.'
He went on to write: 'Piastri was full of rage after being demoted to second in a British GP he felt should have rightfully been his.
'When it was put to him by Sky that he had driven brilliantly, he simply replied: 'Yep, I know,' through a strained smile.
'If he's that good when he's chilled out, what'll be like when he's angry? We can't wait to see.'
One video of Piastri's first reaction posted on X by a Piastri fan account has more than 70,000 views with the account posting: 'OMG I don't think I have ever seen him this angry'.
Those interactions have allowed some sections of the Formula 1 word to paint a picture of Piastri being a sore loser.
There have also been wild suggestions Piastri was out of line when jokingly asking Nico Hulkenberg what he thought about the first podium trophy of his career being made out of Lego because of a commercial relationship between the British Grand Prix and building block goliath.
Social media users, many of them Norris supporters, have shared harsh messages on X, accusing Piastri of poor sportsmanship by failing to celebrate his teammate's win.
Piastri, did however, congratulate his teammate on the win and said after the race it would not have been 'fair' for the team to ask Norris to let him pass.
The way it played out has put a fire in his belly.
'I thought I would ask the question,' Piastri said.
'I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn't going to happen.
'I don't think there was anything wrong with it. Lando didn't do anything wrong.
'I don't think it would have been particularly fair to have swapped, but I thought I would at least ask.
'It doesn't change much for the championship. I feel like I did a good job today. I feel I did what I needed to. That's all I need. I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.'
Norris now has eight career wins, one more than Piastri, and with the McLaren drivers separated by just eight points in the standings, the championship is set to go down to the wire over the second half of the season.
Originally published as F1 world turns on Piastri as 'angry side' exposed for first time