Oscar Piastri in the press conference

Stewards share verdict: slowing down by 166 kph (!) earned Piastri a race-defining penalty

18:45, 06 Jul

Updated: 19:11, 06 Jul

byLuke-John Buckle

Oscar Piastri finished second at the British Grand Prix, but the Australian could have taken victory.

The McLaren driver was blisteringly fast in the opening stages and challenged the pole sitter, Max Verstappen, for the lead.

Piastri eventually got past and pulled away but his advantage diminished as the Safety Car was deployed.

At the restart, Piastri saw the Safety Car's lights go out, which meant the race leader was now in control and had to manage the pace.

The McLaren driver was waiting for the Safety Car to enter the pits, but suddenly slowed down, which caught Verstappen off guard. He nearly made contact with the race leader.

Piastri was penalised and given a 10-second time penalty by the stewards for his driving as he controlled the speed.

The stewards said in the document given: "The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, telemetry, team radio, and in-car video evidence."

"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.

"This momentarily resulted in Car 1 unavoidably overtaking Car 81, a position which he gave back immediately.

"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 also received two penalty points on his license and now has six for the last 12 months. Despite the penalty and finishing behind his teammate, Piastri still leads the championship for McLaren.