Oscar Piastri’s Brazil penalty branded “unacceptable” by F1 rival who wants review

Carlos Sainz has called Oscar Piastri’s penalty at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix “unacceptable”, urging a review.

Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty after hitting Kimi Antonelli into Charles Leclerc following the Safety Car restart in Brazil.

It proved a costly penalty for Piastri, who finished fifth at Interlagos, losing further ground to teammate Lando Norris in the title race.

Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Sainz was outspoken about the stewards’ decision.

“I think we need urgently a catch-up and try and solve it, because for me the fact that Oscar got a penalty there in Brazil is unacceptable, honestly, for the category that we are in and being the pinnacle of motorsport,” Sainz told reporters in Las Vegas.

“Everyone that’s seen racing knows that that is not Oscar’s fault at all, and everyone that’s really raced a race car knows he could have done nothing to avoid an accident there and he got away with a 10-second penalty. For me it’s something that I don’t understand. 

“I didn’t understand my Zandvoort penalty, I didn’t understand why Ollie [Bearman] got a penalty when we both collided in Monza.

“So there’s been not one but multiple incidents this year that for me are far from where the sport should be.”

Current process in F1 “not working”

New racing guidelines were introduced over the past 12 months following a number of incidents at the end of last year.

As a result, the stewards have tried their best to follow them.

In Piastri’s case, they felt he was out of control due to a lock-up at Turn 1, leading to a penalty.

The general consensus from pundits was that it was a racing incident.

“It’s difficult to judge, because it could go both ways,” Sainz added. “You could criticise the way the guidelines are written and we ask the stewards to obviously apply those guidelines as firmly as possible and the stewards are just doing their job.

“Or are the guidelines [just] guidelines and the stewards should take them as guidelines and not as black or white? It could go both ways. I’m not sure what the solution is, but it is very clear for me that after what I saw in Brazil, something is not quite working.”