The McLaren driver, who led much of a chaotic and weather-affected race at Silverstone, was handed a ten-second penalty for braking too sharply behind the second Safety Car period on Lap 22.

The penalty dropped him behind Lando Norris after the final pit stops, allowing his teammate to claim a maiden home victory, with Piastri finishing the race in second.

In a rare display of frustration, the usually composed Australian struggled to make sense of the decision during his cool-down lap and in post-race media interviews.

“I think I’ll get myself banned for the year if I say anything here. Thanks for the effort,” he said over team radio after the race, before continuing in a similar vein during his post-race interview with Jenson Button.

📻 Piastri’s radio: “I’ll get myself banned for the year if I say anything” #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/KMQNMIVkpU

— Radio Messages (@radiomessages) July 6, 2025

“I’m not going to say much — I’ll get myself into trouble,” he said.

“Apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore. I did it for five laps before.”

Still upset with the result, Piastri elaborated further in his post-race interview with Sky Sports F1.

“I did what I did at the first restart, and apparently one needed a penalty and one didn’t. I’m still surprised,” 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.”

So frustrated with the penalty was the Australian that he even asked his team over the radio in the closing stages if positions could be swapped between himself and Norris to put him back into the lead.

“I felt like I didn’t deserve the penalty, and thought I would at least ask because I felt like I at least deserved to be in the lead of the race,” he explained to Sky Sports Italy after the race.

“[I’m] not saying I deserved to win it, but I felt like at that point I had done everything I needed to.

“I asked, I wasn’t expecting much but thought I’d at least ask.”

The 24-year-old had made a brilliant start to the race, passing Max Verstappen early and controlling proceedings through multiple Safety Cars and changing conditions. But the stewards’ decision to penalise him for the restart behind the Safety Car turned the race on its head.

In explaining the penalty, the stewards found Piastri had braked sharply during the restart, decelerating from 218 km/h to 52 km/h, applying 59.2 psi of brake pressure.

They judged that his sudden drop in speed forced Verstappen, who was directly behind, to take evasive action to avoid a collision. The incident was deemed a breach of Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations and resulted in a ten-second time penalty.

The incident that led to Piastri’s 10-second penalty 👀#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/19PHX5hXGO

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said the team felt the penalty was harsh, noting that the Safety Car pulled in unusually late, giving Piastri little time to control the pace of the pack.

“We thought the Safety Car pulled in relatively late,” Stella told Sky Sports F1. “This didn’t give much space for the leading driver to take control of the group and go with the restart procedure.

“We think the penalty was harsh, but we’ll review the data like usual. There’s not much we can do — we just have to take it on the chin.

“[It’s] a tough one for Oscar because he drove very well today. But it’s just the midseason, and there’s plenty more opportunities and I think this will give Oscar more motivation.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown echoed that view, adding that telemetry data showed the braking didn’t appear as dramatic as it looked on television.

“The Safety Car seemed like it was called in a bit late. The leader controls — I think Max accelerated, Oscar braked, which I think made it look worse than it was,” Brown said. “The telemetry didn’t look like it did on TV. But it is what it is.”

Piastri’s second-place finish keeps him at the top of the Drivers’ Championship by eight points and contributes to a commanding lead for McLaren in the Constructors’ standings, with the team now 238 points ahead of Ferrari.

“The team did a great job,” Piastri said.

“We had a great car. Certainly on my side of the garage we did everything we needed to. It’s a good haul of points for the team.

“I think we had an absolute rocket ship of a car today. With all the Safety Cars and everything that got thrown at us, to win by such a large margin was impressive. The team did a great job.”