Oscar Piastri conceded it would have not been fair on Lando Norris for his team-mate to lose victory in the British Grand Prix by McLaren granting his request to swap their positions back after his lead-ceding penalty.
Championship leader Piastri was left uncharacteristically angry by the 10-second sanction given to him by stewards for an incident ahead of the lap-22 Safety Car restart when they judged he had braked too harshly in front of Max Verstappen down the Hangar Straight.
Needing to serve the penalty at his next pit stop, Piastri was only two seconds ahead of Norris when he pitted for slicks, with the Australian having to serve his 10s sanction in the McLaren pit box before the crew could work on his car.
Norris inherited the lead and then kept it when he pitted for slicks himself one lap later.
McLaren were also unhappy with the stewards’ decision – with team boss Andrea Stella later labelling it “very harsh” – and Piastri asked over team radio with seven laps to go whether, in the event the team also thought it was unfair, they would swap him and Norris back around.
Piastri’s race engineer replied three laps later that there would be no team orders.
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Take a look at why Piastri was given a 10-second penalty
And speaking in the post-race press conference, while still unhappy with the penalty that cost him a probable victory in his close-fought title duel with Norris, he admitted a swap would not have been correct.
“I thought I would ask the question,” said Piastri. “I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked.
“But I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn’t going to happen.
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. Lando didn’t do anything wrong.
“I don’t think it would have been particularly fair to have swapped, but I thought I would at least ask.”
‘Just say it’ – McLaren welcomed Piastri swap request despite not granting it
Team boss Andrea Stella explained that, due to the team’s philosophy of openness, they had no problem with Piastri making the request to swap back.
And while they ultimately decided not to grant it after pit-wall discussion, Stella said they allowed Piastri to hold the lead on track as another Safety Car period would have ultimately meant he could have stayed ahead anyway.
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Piastri felt aggrieved at receiving a penalty for braking behind the safety car in his McLaren
Stella said: “As a team and with Lando and Oscar, we always tell our drivers, ‘don’t keep things in the back of your mind when you drive’. If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want to let us know what you are thinking, just say it.
“Then we will evaluate it on the pit wall, make a decision and come back to you.
“Oscar did exactly what we incentivise our drivers to do. He communicated, he expressed his opinion, which we evaluated.
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Highlights from a chaotic British Grand Prix at Silverstone
“The way we handled the situation today given the penalty was to allow Oscar, despite the penalty, in case of a Safety Car to retain the lead.
“If there was s Safety Car, both cars would have pitted [at the same time], Oscar would have paid the penalty, Lando would have waited and the two McLarens would have gone out in the same corner as they came in.
“But at the point in which we needed to have the transition of the dry tyres, then the penalty was made, and at that stage we thought that we should just retain the natural order.
“So I think this was a fair for both, and I’m sure that Oscar will understand and agree to this point of view.”
F1 takes a brief break before the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1 on July 25-27. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.
