McLaren boss warns a future Leclerc-Piastri-style incident could lead to a 'very big' crash

While Lewis Hamilton received a five-second penalty for his opening-lap collision with George Russell, Leclerc escaped without any sanction despite making contact with Piastri on the Kemmel Straight.

Speaking to GPblog among others after the race, Stella said he first wanted to review the stewards' reasoning before drawing any firm conclusions, particularly regarding the factors that influenced their decision and whether the relative positioning of Piastri's front axle and Leclerc's car had been decisive.

The McLaren team principal nevertheless stressed that when two cars run alongside each other for an extended period, the driver defending the inside should always leave sufficient room. In his view, any uncontrolled contact in such circumstances has the potential to result in a major accident. Stella added that the incident could provide valuable lessons for the future, although he reiterated that he wanted to study the stewards' verdict before commenting further.

The Aussie was left unhappy after first-lap contact with Leclerc disrupted his Belgian GP, with the McLaren driver believing the incident deserved at least some form of intervention from the stewards.

Speaking to GPblog and other media after the race, Piastri explained that he had been forced onto the white line as the cars came together under braking, insisting there was little he could have done to avoid the contact. He also felt the clash could easily have escalated into a much more serious accident: "From where I was at, I was on the white line and got squeezed. I think we were very lucky not to have a bigger crash because we touched wheels at the start of the braking zone basically."

Although the Australian did not argue that Leclerc should have received a time penalty, he questioned why no black-and-white warning flag was issued. Piastri suggested that failing to address incidents of that nature could encourage drivers to continue leaving rivals with the bare minimum amount of space, increasing the likelihood of similar clashes in future races.