Piastri was given a 10-second time penalty for braking excessively during the Safety Car restart on Lap 22, an action that stewards ruled forced Max Verstappen to take evasive action. The FIA cited Article 55.15 of the Sporting Regulations, which prohibits erratic or dangerous driving during Safety Car periods.
The penalty ultimately dropped Piastri behind teammate Lando Norris during the final round of pit stops, handing the Briton a maiden home grand prix win and relegating Piastri to second place.
While Piastri, McLaren, and many within the paddock argued the decision was harsh, Schumacher didn’t mince words in his assessment of the Australian’s actions.
“The penalty was definitely deserved,” Schumacher said on Sky Deutschland.
“He tried, wanted to show Max that he could do it too. It was too much.
“I don’t want to say dirty, but it was dirty in any case.”
The comments from the six-time grand prix winner come weeks after Piastri came under fire from another ex-F1 star, with former world champion Jacques Villeneuve labelling the 24-year-old ‘nasty’ for his Canadian Grand Prix crash with Norris.
While Schumacher’s comments struck a critical tone, former F1 drivers David Coulthard, Anthony Davidson, and Martin Brundle offered more measured perspectives.
Speaking after the race on Channel 4, Coulthard stressed the challenges facing leaders during Safety Car restarts.
“When you’re behind the safety car with the lights off, you have to stay within 10 car lengths of that safety car, keeping the field going with you,” he said. “Once the safety car lights go out, you then control the pace for the restart. You want to allow the safety car to get off into the pit lane.
“And it’s the fact that he’s accelerated, then decelerated, that’s caught Max out, and then the stewards have either, I assume, used the information that’s available.
“Max has got space, it’s not like he’s on the grass, but that was enough for them to go, that’s erratic behaviour behind the safety car, and that’s why they’ve given the 10-second penalty.
“Do I think the penalty fits the crime? No. If that’s consistent with things they’ve done in the past, then that should be a smaller penalty.
“He hasn’t forced anyone off the road, seeing it from Max’s point of view, he hasn’t had to lock up, he hasn’t had to take massive avoiding action, I’m forever going to think that’s harsh until someone convinces me otherwise.”
The incident that led to Piastri’s 10-second penalty 👀#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/19PHX5hXGO
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025
Sky Sports F1 analyst Davidson, who dissected the incident using telemetry post-race in his ‘Sky Pad’ segment, agreed the braking was abrupt but explained it was partly due to the unusually late timing of the Safety Car lights going out.
“This is the critical moment,” Davidson said while showing the incident. “It’s all a bit slow here. Safety Car disappears momentarily, Verstappen thinks ‘I get a bit of heat in the rear tyres’ at this point, and then out of nowhere, the McLaren starts to come at you.
“So it really did shock Max in that moment.
“You see how far ahead the Safety Car was at the time. I did tend to agree with the stewards’ decision, I thought it was slightly erratic driving.
Brundle, speaking during the Sky Sports F1 commentary, also agreed with the stewards’ decision.
“They need mitigating circumstances to drop that [penalty] to five seconds, or indeed no penalty at all,” he said.
“He was almost stationary, wasn’t he? I hear what Zak [Brown] is saying, Max did floor it down the outside to emphasise, but that was extremely slow from Oscar.”
Piastri, usually composed in post-race interviews, could barely contain his frustration following Sunday’s result — first on the team radio and later during his television interviews.
“I think I’ll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here,” he quipped over the radio.
Later, he told Sky Sports: “Apparently you can’t brake behind the Safety Car anymore. I did it for five laps before.”
He added, “I don’t really understand. I need to look back and see. I really don’t think I did anything different or anything wrong.”
Despite the incident, Piastri remains on top of the Drivers’ Standings, eight points clear of Norris.
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