Jenson Button tells Zak Brown why Oscar Piastri’s F1 penalty was correct

2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button has sided with the stewards over Oscar Piastri’s penalty at the British Grand Prix.

Piastri was handed a 10-second penalty after braking suddenly behind the Safety Car.

The incident occurred when it was announced that the Safety Car period had ended.

Piastri slammed the brakes to back up and give himself a gap.

However, by doing so, Max Verstappen was forced to take evasive action and nearly collided with Piastri.

A similar incident took place in Montreal between Verstappen and Russell, but it was deemed that the latter didn’t brake too aggressively.

The penalty ultimately cost Piastri the win, handing teammate Lando Norris his first victory in front of his home fans.

Giving his view to Sky Sports after the race, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “The Safety Car seemed like it was called in late. Max accelerated, Oscar braked, which made it look worse than it was.

“The telemetry didn’t look like it looked on TV. Anytime you get into these penalties, there is an element of subjectivity.

“When they pound the brakes they are 130 PSI. It’s wet, it was a late call… a close one.”

Button felt that it was too “aggressive” from Piastri and the lack of visibility in wet conditions meant the penalty was fair.

“The biggest issue was that, when the Safety Car put its lights out, the Safety Car had just started accelerating,” Button said.

“So he went from 60mph to 130mph in the blink of an eye.

“He was like ‘I need to slow down because there’s a Safety Car in front of me and I need to create a gap’.

“I will also say that it looked aggressive.

“If it was in the dry, it might have been alright. But it was wet, and the visibility…”

A missed opportunity for Piastri

Piastri had shown outstanding pace until he picked up his penalty.

When the stewards announced their verdict, Piastri was nearly four seconds ahead of teammate Norris.

The various Safety Cars put Piastri on the back foot, given he led Verstappen by over 12 seconds in the first part of it.

“I am disappointed for Oscar. He drove an unbelievable race,” Brown concluded.

“You come across penalties once in a while. Some are marginal, some are clear, some are wrong.”