Piastri fumes as penalty gifts Norris British GP win: ‘I'll get myself banned'
Piastri was leading a chaotic race at Silverstone when a safety car was called. But in the eyes of the stewards he responded to the signal by slowing down too quickly in front of Max Verstappen and forcing the Red Bull driver to take evasive action.
It earned Piastri a 10-second penalty and that proved the difference as Norris finished first in a McLaren one-two.
Norris said it was 'everything I dreamt of' after making the most of Piastri's misfortune to secure an emotion-charged win overnight Sunday.
The beaming 25-year-old Briton claimed his maiden home triumph in stirring fashion to trim Piastri's lead in the drivers' world title race to eight points.
Piastri was understandably aggrieved at the stewards' decision and requested that McLaren instructed Norris to swap positions with him, but he was told the team would not issue any team orders.
'Oscar, I know how you feel about that. Let's talk about it once we're out of the car,' the McLaren team told the Aussie on team radio as the race concluded.
Piastri: 'Yep, I think I'll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here. Thanks for the effort.'
'I don't really understand it,' he said later.
'I need to look back and see it again because I don't think I did anything different or anything wrong,' he said.
'I mean I did what I did at the first restart and, apparently, one needed a penalty and other didn't.'
But Verstappen's reaction in the moment on Red Bull team radio was telling. 'Woah, mate,' Verstappen said. 'He just suddenly again slows down!'
And the stewards were emphatic in their post-race memo.
'When the clerk of the course had declared that the safety car was coming in that lap and the lights were extinguished, Car 81 suddenly braked hard (59.2 psi of brake pressure) and reduced speed in the middle of the straight between T14 and T15, from 218 kph to 52 kph, resulting in Car 1 having to take evasive action to avoid a collision,' the FIA stewards wrote.
'This momentarily resulted in Car 1 unavoidably overtaking Car 81, a position which he gave back immediately. Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off.
'What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article. In accordance with the penalty guidelines, we imposed a 10 second time penalty to Car 81.'
Piastri's misery, after McLaren's fifth 1-2 of the season, was Norris's joy as he celebrated with his family and friends after surviving a testing afternoon of torrential rain, multiple safety car interventions and collisions in treacherous conditions.
'It's beautiful,' said Norris.
'Everything I dreamt of, I guess. Everything I've ever wanted to achieve. Apart from a championship, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings and in terms of achievement, being proud, all of it.
'This is where it all started for me, I was actually watching on TV many years ago and now thankfully I've been able to have my go.
'An incredible race, stressful as always, but the support from the fans — it made the difference today so I've got to thank them for it all.
'The last few laps, I was just looking into the crowd. I was just trying to take it all in, enjoy the moment, because it might never happen again.
'I hope it does, but these are memories that I'll bring with me forever. An incredible achievement.'
The McLaren drivers congratulated each other and the team, Piastri describing his car as a rocket-ship.
'With all the safety cars and everything, to win by such a big margin is impressive,' he said of their 34-second lead ahead of third-placed Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber.
At the midway point in this year's 24-race championship, after 12 races, Piastri leads with 234 points ahead of Norris on 226 and Verstappen on 165 while in the constructors' title race McLaren lead with 460 to Ferrari on 222 and Mercedes on 210.
It was McLaren's first home triumph at Silverstone since seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton won in 2008. For Norris, it was a first home win, his fourth win of the year and the eighth of his career.
Hulkenberg ended his hold on Formula One's longest unwanted record on Sunday when he finished third for Sauber at the British Grand Prix in his 239th top-tier race.
Aged 37, and in the 16th season of a career that has seen him race for eight different teams, the highly-popular German sparked widespread celebrations with his unexpected success in a race dominated by McLaren.
'It's been a long time coming, hasn't it?' said Hulkenberg.
'It's surreal and I was in denial until like probably the last pit stop and then we gapped Lewis quite a bit, with the extra lap.
'I was like 'OK, this is good, it gives some breathing space', but he was catching me quite quickly.'
But Hulkenberg held his nerve to come in third.
'The pressure was there,' he said. 'It was such an intense race, but we didn't crack. No mistakes at all and obviously I'm really happy with that.
'Of course, I was thinking that he's going to give it all in front of his home crowd and I was like 'sorry guys, but it's also my day!' I had to stick my neck out and I'm super happy.'
British GP results
1. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren) 1h 37min 15.735sec, 2. Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren) at 6.812s, 3. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Sauber) 34.742, 4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Ferrari) 39.812, 5. Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 56.781, 6. Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 59.857, 7. Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) 1:00.603,8. Alex Albon (THA/Williams) 1:04.135, 9. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) 1:05.858, 10. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 1:10.674, 11. Oliver Bearman (GBR/Haas) 1:12.095, 12. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Williams) 1:16.592, 13. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Haas) 1:17.301, 14. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 1:24.477, 15. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/Red Bull) 1 lap
DNF: Franco Colapinto (ARG/Alpine), Liam Lawson (NZL/RB), Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA/Sauber), Isack Hadjar (FRA/RB, Kimi Antonelli (ITA/Mercedes)
World championship standings
1. Oscar Piastri (AUS) 234 pts, 2. Lando Norris (GBR) 226, 3. Max Verstappen (NED) 165, 4. George Russell (GBR) 147, 5. Charles Leclerc (MON) 119, 6. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 103, 7. Kimi Antonelli (ITA) 63, 8. Alex Albon (THA) 46, 9. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) 37, 10. Esteban Ocon (FRA) 23, 11. Isack Hadjar (FRA) 21, 12. Lance Stroll (CAN) 20, 13. Pierre Gasly (FRA) 19, 14. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 16, 15. Carlos Sainz (ESP) 13, 16. Liam Lawson (NZL) 12, 17. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN) 10, 18. Oliver Bearman (GBR) 6, 19. Gabriel Bortoleto (BRA) 4, 20. Franco Colapinto (ARG) 0, 21. Jack Doohan (AUS) 0
1. McLaren 460 pts, 2. Ferrari 222, 3. Mercedes 210, 4. Red Bull 172, 5. Williams 59, 6. Sauber 41, 7. RB 36, 8. Aston Martin 36, 9. Haas 29, 10. Alpine 19
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