Oscar Piastri has urged potential British Grand Prix protestors to stay away from Silverstone this weekend and not disrupt the F1 event for a second successive year.
A number of ‘Just Stop Oil’ campaigners caused mayhem last July when they breached security to make their way onto the track shortly after the race had started.
In recent months, they have also disrupted other major sporting events in Britain, including the World Snooker Championships, the Ashes, and just this week, Wimbledon.
Additional police measures are in place, notably with the deployment of specialist assets that include plain clothes officers, search teams, armed officers, and dogs in support of uniformed officers, whilst there are also live facial recognition cameras in operation on Saturday and Sunday.
Asked how concerned he is about a potential repeat of what unfolded in 2022, Piastri said: “Everyone’s advice is don’t run onto a live race track. There’s no cause that’s good enough to excuse that.
“Obviously, I’ve seen they were at Wimbledon, and they were at the Ashes a few weeks ago. It’s one thing to go on to a tennis court or a cricket pitch, but not a race track.
“I hope everyone stays sensible. Of course, there’s a time and a place to protest for what you believe in, but during an F1 race is not the time.
“I just hope everyone stays safe. I’m sure security here will be on high alert given what happened last year, and with all the events going on currently, so stay off the race track.”
The Australian enjoyed a strong Friday of practice, notably in the second session during which he was fourth quickest on the medium-tyre, higher-fuel runs, before finishing ninth fastest on the soft rubber.
With the first raft of upgrades on his car that were enjoyed by team-mate Lando Norris in Austria last week, Piastri said: “It was nice.
“It did pretty much what I expected from what I found in the sim, so that’s encouraging.
“Pace-wise, we were still looking to get it in the sweet spot a little bit at the moment.
“I think our pace is reasonable but still need to make a few tweaks.
“We’ve just been struggling a little bit with sort of a split in balance between high speed and low speed at the moment,” he added.
“We’ve tried a few things today, some have worked, some haven’t.”
The Australian was left optimistic of his chances.
“I think we can definitely target [Q3],” he said.
“The Williams have looked very quick today – maybe they’re doing a couple of glory runs!
“But no, it’s been pretty reasonable.
“We saw last week it was pretty comfortably in Q3, and even with the old car I could have been in Q3 If I stayed in on the track, so I think that definitely Q3 is the target.
“Obviously, Sunday, here’s where we need to convert it, so that’s our focus.”
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