max-verstappen-in-gesprek-met-oscar-piastri

Did Verstappen deliberately try to get Piastri penalised: 'He process these things quickly'

20:37, 07 Jul

Co-author:Kada Sárközi

byKimberley Hoefnagel

Sam Bird believes that Max Verstappen intentionally got Oscar Piastri penalized at Silverstone during the restart. The Formula E driver from McLaren suggested that the FIA must be vigilant, as this is the second time such an incident has occurred this year.

Piastri was heavily penalized by the stewards after the restart of the British Grand Prix, for 'erratic braking' when the safety car period ended, creating what the marshals deemed a too dangerous situation.

This action had striking resemblance to the one between George Russell and Max Verstappen during the Canadian Grand Prix a few weeks ago.

"I think the FIA have got to be careful now, because this has happened twice this season," the driver said on the BBC's F1: Chequered Flag Podcast.

"I think they've got to come up with something a little bit clearer, like you cannot break when you're on the straight. You do your braking for the corners, but in a straight - because otherwise it gets a little bit messy."

Therefore, Bird would like to see something more concrete, and wondered aloud how would that be possible. "How many psi are they going to allow? Is it 30? Is it 40? Is it 50? I don't know."

"I think the main thing is Oscar was in complete control of his car and was in a straight line."

Deliberate action by Verstappen?

The McLaren driver indicated that he thinks Verstappen deliberately tried to get Piastri into trouble during the race restart.

"I think Max is so good that he saw an opportunity there and thought, ‘you know what, if I make it look like this was dangerous' - Max is able to process things very, very quickly…. ‘If I make this look a little bit dangerous, I don't have the car to win this weekend. And I don't have the car. But if I can get them a penalty.'," Bird said.

He compared the situation to the incident between Verstappen and George Russell during the Canadian Grand Prix from a few weeks ago. "Like what he did in Canada with George, he pushed the FIA to look into it. Here he's pushed the FIA to look into it and give a penalty. However, he's then made a mistake himself. And that's what we saw up and down the pit lane this weekend. Most drivers making mistakes. The only three that didn't were Nico Hülkenberg, Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris," he concluded.