Oscar Piastri defiantly responded to a 10-second penalty that has severely jeopardized his championship aspirations at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The troubles for Piastri began early in the race when, on the sixth lap, he collided with Kimi Antonelli. This incident caused Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to crash out, prompting Piastri to, in frustration, declare, “I can’t disappear,” as he and other F1 drivers criticized the Italian’s role in the mishap.
During a restart, Piastri attempted an aggressive move by steering his McLaren inside at Turn 1. Unfortunately, he locked his brakes, resulting in a collision with Antonelli’s Mercedes.
This mistake dashed Piastri’s podium ambitions, relegating him to a fifth-place finish, trailing behind Lando Norris, Antonelli, Max Verstappen, and George Russell.
Expressing his frustration, Piastri voiced over the radio, “He left me with no space.”
Pictured: The moment Piastri collided with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes at the Brazilian GP
The incident earned Piastri (pictured) a 10-second penalty, which has put a huge dent in his chances of winning the F1 title
He added, “I can’t disappear, but the decision by the stewards stands.”
It followed a sprint race crash that had already cost Piastri points earlier in the weekend.
Afterwards, Piastri said Antonelli gave him ‘no space’ and that he ‘had a clear opportunity’.
‘I had a very clear opportunity. I went for it. The other two on the outside braked quite late,’ he said.
‘There was obviously a bit of a lock-up into the corner, but that was because I could see Kimi was not going to give me any space.’
Leclerc agreed and said Piastri did not deserve all the blame, adding that Antonelli ‘knew Oscar was on the inside’ and could have avoided contact.
He described his retirement as ‘very frustrating’ after starting from third and missing a likely podium.
‘Oscar was optimistic, but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think,’ Leclerc said.
McLaren teammate Lando Norris extended his lead in the drivers’ championship with victory in São Paulo
There were no hard feelings between Piastri (left) and Antonelli (right) after the incident that saw the Aussie finish fifth
‘And he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there. And for me, the blame is not all on Oscar.
‘Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I’m frustrated.
‘At the end of the day I’m not angry with any of Oscar or Kimi, these things happen.
‘But yeah, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s all of Oscar’s fault. I don’t think it is.’
The penalty widened the gap between Piastri and Norris to 24 points in the championship standings.
With only three races remaining, Norris can now finish runner-up in each event and still secure the title even if Piastri wins every remaining race.
Piastri must outscore Norris heavily in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi to keep his hopes alive.
Norris did not directly comment on the Piastri incident, but he did say that Kimi Antonelli would need to ‘thank Charles’ for keeping his teammate out of the race on team radio.
Piastri has now slipped a long way back in the standings with little time to make up the ground
‘Oh my God! You have to thank Charles!’ Norris said while watching the replay after the race.
Sky Sports F1 analyst Jamie Chadwick argued that Piastri did not deserve the penalty.
‘The person that hasn’t necessarily used all the room available to him is Kimi for me. And so I actually am on the sort of side of where I think Oscar has been hard done by here,’ she said.
‘He’s not, in my opinion, locked up because he’s out of control,’ she said.
‘He’s locked up because he’s seen Kimi turning in a bit on him and his natural reaction is to press the brake pedal a little bit harder, turn as much left as you can to get as close to the white line, causing that lockup.
‘But for me, even with the lock-up, he’s still as far to the white line as he can be and still hasn’t been given the room by Kimi.’
However, leading analyst Martin Brundle said the right decision had been made.
‘That’s the standard penalty,’ he said on the Sky Sports broadcast.
‘There were no mitigating circumstances, so I’m not surprised. He had to have a go, there’s no doubt about that, but the penalty is a fair cop.’
