McLaren accuses Verstappen: did Max really get him penalized?

If there’s one driver on the F1 grid who keeps his emotions well in check, it’s Oscar Piastri. Off-camera, the Australian is genuinely a nice, friendly guy, but in front of the cameras he can sometimes seem a bit dull. However, at Silverstone, it became clear that some emotion can come through when things really go wrong.

Right after getting out of the car, it was obvious how pissed off Piastri was. In fact, his slightly wild driving style after the last pit stop already showed it. Once out of the car, Piastri chose the ‘Verstappen strategy’: better to say nothing than risk being punished for speaking out.

During the press conference for the written media, Piastri still hadn’t cooled down. The McLaren driver gave short answers and even asked Nico Hulkenberg a question after being asked just one himself. The reason behind Verstappen’s irritation only came out with the final question.

He was then asked whether Max Verstappen really had to move aside for Piastri, or if the four-time world champion might have made it a bigger deal than necessary. His answer spoke for itself.

This view was widely shared within McLaren. About ten minutes later, Andrea Stella joined the press session with the written media because he wanted to analyze the footage of the incident one more time. His conclusion: the penalty was too harsh, and the competitor (read: Verstappen) also overreacted somewhat.

Stella was vague about who the “competitors” were, but there was only one driver who passed by Piastri—and that was Verstappen. Max Verstappen himself was unaware of any wrongdoing. He only learned about Piastri’s penalty after the race.

“No one told me during the race. The thing is that it happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario. I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds for it.”

When asked if the incident with Russell was less serious, Verstappen replied, “Well, to the stewards, yes.”

Like McLaren, Red Bull Racing was also on the same page. Christian Horner said after the British Grand Prix that he wasn’t surprised by Piastri’s penalty: “That was what you would expect. It was probably more surprising that George didn’t get one in Montreal, to be honest.”

In Montreal, Red Bull Racing lodged a protest against Russell’s move, but no penalty was given to the Brit. According to Verstappen—and also Piastri—that incident was neither worse nor less severe than the one at Silverstone. However, the stewards ruled differently.