The McLaren driver recovered to fifth after serving a 10-second penalty for causing contact with Antonelli and Charles Leclerc during an early Safety Car restart, with Leclerc forced to retire from the race due to damage.

“I had a very clear opportunity. I went for it,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1.

“The other two on the outside braked quite late and yeah. I mean 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.

“And yeah, I can’t disappear. But the decision is what it is.”

The Australian admitted the penalty wasn’t his only frustration, saying his pace early in the race wasn’t where he wanted it to be.

“I think today the penalty was one thing, but I don’t think the pace was at a level that I wanted it to be,” he added.

“The second half of the race potentially was not too bad, but the first stint was a little bit tough. So yeah.”

 

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Adding further pain to the 24-year-old’s weekend, he was handed an additional penalty of two points on his super licence for the incident, bringing his total to eight within the last 12 months.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the penalty had ended any chance of Piastri challenging for the podium but backed his driver to respond strongly in the remaining rounds.

“A little bit of a shame that with Oscar we couldn’t fight for the podium because of the penalty that we suffered,” Stella said.

“We need to take it on the chin and look forward.”

He suggested recent low-grip conditions had made life difficult for Piastri but said the team would work to ensure he could maximise his performance regardless of track characteristics.

“We need to make sure that we can extract the full potential out of the car and not out of Oscar’s driving,” Stella explained.

“In all conditions lately we’ve faced these low grip conditions which have challenged his natural style.

“We need to make sure that we are able to extract the most, even when things don’t work to our natural strengths.”

Piastri’s fifth-place finish, combined with his Sprint retirement on Saturday and Lando Norris’s wins in both races, saw him lose 23 points to his teammate, leaving him 24 points behind in the championship with three grands prix and a Sprint remaining.

He said that despite another disappointing weekend, he remained focused on bouncing back in the title fight.

“Just trying to get back on top of things with that and, yeah, try and have the best weekends we can,” he said.

Stella added that the team would review the weekend in detail, including strategy decisions, but maintained confidence in Piastri’s ability to recover form.

“We also need to review if there was something more we could have done with the strategy to help Oscar,” he said.

“So a few things that we need to review. Not in a desperate way, but certainly in a rational way and trying to capitalise on the strengths.

“We have many strengths on Oscar’s side and we need to make the best use of them.”

Norris wins in Sao Paulo, Piastri fights back to fifth after penalty