Red Bull: Oscar Piastri deserved penalty, rain ruined…

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt Oscar Piastri’s safety car penalty at the British Grand Prix proved George Russell should have been hit with a similar punishment last month in Canada.

Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty after braking heavily behind the safety car while leading Sunday’s rain-affected race at Silverstone, leading to Max Verstappen momentarily passing the McLaren driver, who was then penalised by the stewards as team-mate Lando Norris came through to win his home grand prix.

Verstappen had to brake and take avoiding action in response to Piastri’s action in an incident that drew parallels with Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix, where Red Bull protested unsuccessfully following a comparable moment behind the safety car.

In Russell's case the stewards agreed his braking was much less severe and in line with normal driving behaviour behind the safety car to heat up the tyres. However, the Silverstone stewards felt Piastri had clearly crossed the line due to the harsh manner in which he braked, noting 59.2 psi of brake pressure that slowed his McLaren down from 218km/h to 52km/h.

Verstappen instantly called out the move on his team radio but, having been on the tail of the leader before the incident, he ultimately had to settle for a fifth-place finish.

“I wasn’t surprised to see him get a penalty,” said Horner, who felt polesitter Verstappen’s race was an uphill fight following the incident on lap 21.

Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

“That was what you would expect. It was probably more surprising that George didn't get one in Montreal, to be honest with you. But yeah, that's it. Unfortunately, our race unfolded from that point.

“But Max's recovery as the track dried up – he was one of the fastest cars on the track. So that low downforce was a gamble. It paid off yesterday [in qualifying]. And as I say, had it not been for good old Blighty [British slang for ‘British’] weather, we'd have been all right.”

Verstappen took top spot on a dry track in qualifying on Saturday, equalling Sebastian Vettel’s record of 44 Red Bull pole positions in the process and setting up an intriguing race, given the Dutchman had opted for a lower-downforce rear wing, leaving the reigning world champion susceptible to the weather.

“We trimmed out the car basically to Monza levels of downforce and were able to obviously get a balance that enabled Max to get a fantastic pole position that matched Sebastian Vettel's record,” explained Horner.

“That was based on the forecast that we had, that there might be a 20% chance of rain on Sunday morning but thereafter dry conditions. And I don't think any forecast that we certainly saw showed any chance that the rain was going to be that heavy and that late.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images)

“So, lining up on the grid in the conditions it was, I thought Max had a super start, was able to feel his way around those first few laps. But it was clear very early on that Oscar had quite an advantage pace-wise.”

While it ultimately proved to be a gamble that did not pay off for Red Bull, Horner felt it was worth the risk but that Verstappen was then also hamstrung by the lack of downforce after a spin left him fighting in the midfield.

“I felt we got the crossover time right, waiting for that rain. We were able to jump back past in the pits, past Lando, which then got Max back out into position, and then thereafter, the safety car came out. And yeah, that's where the race started to unfold for us, unfortunately,” added Horner.

“Where Oscar obviously did what he did on the brakes on the run-up to Stowe. First of all, it caught Max out as you're preparing to take the restart. Caught him out, completely unaware as to what was going on.

“So all your preparation, your switches, everything, you don't manage to get in the right place. Oscar's then gone, Max trying to go with him, and obviously he's had a half-spin out of Stowe. I thought it was a very good catch from him but slotted back effectively in 10th place behind Carlos.

“And once we were in the pack in that dirty air, in those wet conditions on the downforce level that we were running, you could see just how hard it was for him. I think it was a good call engineering-wise to do that (go for the skinny rear wing), but at a track that's so high-speed. Copse becomes your limiting point.

“I think actually in a dry race he would have been very quick in the areas he needed to defend. It would have been hard to get near him today. But we won't know because unfortunately the weather intervened.”