Palmer: Piastri was hard done by his penalty in Brazil
Ex-F1 driver and pundit Jolyon Palmer has claimed that Oscar Piastri was hard done by when he was handed his 10-second penalty in Sao Paolo.
Piastri had collided with Kimi Antonelli at the Lap 5 safety car restart and although the stewards “rigidly followed their guidelines,” Palmer believes the penalty was harsh.
The penalty ultimately meant the Australian finished P5, and now 24 points behind his teammate and championship rival, Lando Norris.
Speaking on his F1 TV Analysis show, Palmer said he can understand why the stewards handed Piastri a penalty, but he thinks it was a racing incident.
He explained: “As Oscar got alongside Kimi there was plenty of space for him to make the move, but he also would have been aware of this risky position with two cars on his outside and the championship on the line.
“I think because of that Oscar braked earlier than his rivals on the outside, and that was critical.”
The FIA guidelines state that drivers attempting to make an overtake must have their front axle at least alongside the mirrors of the other car prior to and at the apex.
Palmer added: “The stewards saw that, at the point of contact just before the apex, Oscar wasn’t nearly far enough alongside and was locked up, thus applying the routine penalty.
“The cautious approach has to be the more sensible approach here.
“He braked early to ensure that he could stick to the inside line, but as Antonelli started to drift across to take his apex, Oscar realised that the racing room he hoped would be there was disappearing.”
The former F1 agrees with Piastri’s post-race assessment when he said: “You can’t just disappear.”
Palmer concluded by saying that the guidelines were followed too rigidly.
He added: “I want to see drivers giving each other space and racing wheel-to-wheel through corners, not just dashing for an apex or chopping across others because they ‘own the corner’.
“Realistically, I think it’s just a racing incident though – one of those things where drivers are racing fiercely, three-wide and incidents happen.”
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