Oscar Piastri was forced to give up a win at the British Grand Prix after being handed a penalty by the FIA stewards.

The Australian was put under investigation because of a Safety Car infringement midway through the race, when he appeared to slam on the brakes at the restart.

His manoeuvre forced Max Verstappen to overtake him and brake harshly, with the Dutchman subsequently losing control of his Red Bull when he exited Stowe corner.

After he was given a 10-second time penalty, Piastri served it at his final pit stop. This handed the lead to Lando Norris, who subsequently went on to win in front of the home crowd.

Piastri was irate after the race over team radio, while former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer thinks his penalty was ‘heavy-handed’ by the stewards when speaking on F1 TV.


Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

Jolyon Palmer says Oscar Piastri’s penalty was ‘heavy-handed’ by FIA Stewards

Palmer felt Piastri’s penalty was overly harsh by the stewards, largely because nothing happened in the incident.

“It was a bit heavy-handed from the Stewards. It gave the race to Lando. It’s nice for him and the crowd, but I do feel really sorry for Oscar, and I think he’s handled himself really well,” said Palmer.

The stewards issued the penalty because he broke Article 55.15 of the F1 sporting regulations, which makes reference to “erratic braking” manoeuvres that can “endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the Safety Car turn off.”

In their investigation, they found that Piastri slowed from  218kph (135mph) to 52kph (32mph), which caused Verstappen to brake harshly.

Jolyon Palmer compares Oscar Piastri move to George Russell

The move is somewhat similar to what happened between Verstappen and George Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix, in which the Briton braked and caused the Dutchman to take avoiding action.

“The spray makes it worse from Max’s point of view, but the action is the same. I looked at the one in Canada with Russell and Verstappen, and George did nothing wrong, said Palmer.

“It’s an absolute non-event and personally, I felt like this one [Silverstone] was more of a non-event because of the conditions. But in the end, it’s the guy that’s first momentarily swaps positions with the guy that’s second, and they swap back.”

Red Bull protested the result in Canada, but it was subsequently rejected by the stewards because they felt it was