Why McLaren did not intervene with driver swap after Oscar Piastri penalty

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained why the team did not swap its drivers after Oscar Piastri took a 10-second penalty at Silverstone.

Piastri felt he was wrongly penalised for what officials deemed “erratic braking” behind the Safety Car on Sunday, with that time penalty dropping him behind team-mate Lando Norris, who would go on to win his home race.

Stella: Oscar Piastri ‘did exactly what we incentivise our drivers to do’ in switch question

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Feeling aggrieved by his penalty, Piastri, having led most of the British Grand Prix, asked race engineer Tom Stallard if McLaren would re-establish the order between himself and Norris, putting the Australian in front.

This request was denied, however, with the team holding onto a one-two finish and letting the time penalty take its course as awarded.

In such a tight battle at the front, with only eight points now separating the McLaren pair in the Drivers’ standings, Stella reaffirmed the team’s commitment to treating the drivers fairly.

He revealed that both Piastri and Norris are encouraged to voice their opinions over team radio, which will then prompt the team to take a decision appropriately.

“As part of the way we go racing together as a team, with Lando and Oscar, we always tell our drivers: ‘Don’t keep things in the back of your mind when you drive’,” Stella explained to media including PlanetF1.com at Silverstone.

“If you have a point, if you have a suggestion, if you want let us know what you’re thinking, just say it, and then we will evaluate with our people, we will make a decision, we will come back to you.

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“So, I think what Oscar did is exactly what we incentivise our drivers to do. He communicated, he expressed his opinion, which we evaluated.

“In reality, the way we managed the situation, given the penalty, was to allow Oscar, despite the penalty, in case of a Safety Car, to retain the lead because, if there was a Safety Car, both cars would have pitted, Oscar would have paid the penalty, Lando would have waited, and the two McLarens would have gone out in the same order as they came in.

“But at the point in which we needed to have the transition of the dry tyres, then the penalty was paid, and at that stage, we thought that we should just retain the natural order through the penalty.

“I think this was fair for both, and I’m sure that Oscar will will understand and agree in this way.”

Norris went on to take his first British Grand Prix victory on Sunday, and Stella explained how the team’s strategy had cost him a position earlier in the race, falling behind Max Verstappen at the first round of stops.

Despite being the beneficiary of Piastri’s penalty, Stella explained that Norris won the race “fair and square,” with his team-mate’s travails “no fault of his own”.

With that, he backed Piastri to use the incident as “extra motivation” moving forward.

“He knew that he drove very well today,” Stella said, “and in fairness to Lando, he lost a position because of a problem on the team; he was second at some stage, and he ended up from a pit stop sequence third.

“So, I think Lando has done his job. He has done it fair and square. No faults at all of his own. He drove very well, he drove fast, he found himself in the lead and he won the British Grand Prix.

“I think he should completely and fully enjoy this great experience and this immense joy, and we share this joy with him.

“At the same time, we share a little bit of bitterness that surely Oscar has been experiencing, but like I said, Oscar is a very tough guy, and he will use this situation as extra motivation for other races.”

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