2025 F1 Thread

The FIA's published Stewards' documents don't go into detail about any evidence supplied/argued by McLaren, so that makes it even harder to understand how they adjudicated things.

Another interesting tidbit post race is Verstappen being quoted as saying -:

"It caught me out on cold tyres. I only found out after the race [that Piastri was penalised]. It has happened to me a few times, this kind of scenario. I find it strange that Oscar is the first to receive 10 seconds for it."

As for asking the team to swap positions if they agreed the penalty was unfair, Pastri said the following in the interview pen -:

"I thought I would ask the question. I knew what the answer was going to be before I asked, but I just wanted a small glimmer of hope that maybe I could get it back. But no, I knew it wasn’t going to happen."
 
No fine for NOR swearing either...
Then he gets a cut nose from a photographer falling off the fence

Aston did OK, STR even finished a race!

It was an interesting race to say the least.
 
I suspect there will be some "please clarify" going on with the stewards as this sort of situation gets tricky. Was Oscar above board or not, if not why wasn't it flagged the first time. Does that mean cars behind can effectively cause a penalty for the lead driver.

I don't think we're going to hear about this publicly too much, but it's actually quite a situation if the telemetry is showing oscar did exactly the same thing at exactly the same point with similar track conditions (god damn robot he is). The difference being how Max reacted.


Otherwise a very interesting race and grats to Nico. Quite amusing to watch Lando having to bring his helmet into the cooldown room.
 
I don't think we're going to hear about this publicly too much, but it's actually quite a situation if the telemetry is showing oscar did exactly the same thing at exactly the same point with similar track conditions (god damn robot he is). The difference being how VER reacted.
I did think VER was exaggerating things a bit at the time (which would be typical VER gamesmanship), but to be fair, his comments post-race seem to suggest he was as surprised as PIA that a 10 second penalty was handed down. I also don't know that VER had much to gain by really milking the situation as he was nowhere on pace relative to the McLarens. I can't see him ever having done better than 3rd (assuming both McLarens managed to keep it on the black stuff).

PIA and McLaren certainly do have a right to an explanation based on the telemetry and the fact the first instance of him doing this wasn't penalised. That being said, I do like how McLaren have largely copped this on the chin for now. Obviously if it was down to the wire with a Championship on the line, they'd be fighting more aggressively, but their approach will maintain harmony for now and ensure that they're in a morally stronger position when they really need to call on it (e.g. 50/50 call when it's going to decide a Championship outcome).

All this being said, I think the paddock could do with a more detailed explanation to avoid any confusion and misinterpretation of the rules in the future. As you rightly ask -:

Does that mean cars behind can effectively cause a penalty for the lead driver.

I sure hope not.
 
I did think VER was exaggerating things a bit at the time (which would be typical VER gamesmanship), but to be fair, his comments post-race seem to suggest he was as surprised as PIA that a 10 second penalty was handed down. I also don't know that VER had much to gain by really milking the situation as he was nowhere on pace relative to the McLarens. I can't see him ever having done better than 3rd (assuming both McLarens managed to keep it on the black stuff).

PIA and McLaren certainly do have a right to an explanation based on the telemetry and the fact the first instance of him doing this wasn't penalised. That being said, I do like how McLaren have largely copped this on the chin for now. Obviously if it was down to the wire with a Championship on the line, they'd be fighting more aggressively, but their approach will maintain harmony for now and ensure that they're in a morally stronger position when they really need to call on it (e.g. 50/50 call when it's going to decide a Championship outcome).

All this being said, I think the paddock could do with a more detailed explanation to avoid any confusion and misinterpretation of the rules in the future. As you rightly ask -:



I sure hope not.
I also suspect if Max didn't spin out, Oscar might have still had a chance even with the penalty. He was doing some serious times up ahead leaving Max in the spray and Lando was struggling to overtake Max safely quickly.
 
I also suspect if Max didn't spin out, Oscar might have still had a chance even with the penalty. He was doing some serious times up ahead leaving Max in the spray and Lando was struggling to overtake Max safely quickly.
True. That pretty much sealed PIA's fate once it was clear that penalty wasn't going away. I had my fingers and toes crossed for another SC in the dying laps, but sadly, STR didn't see fit to oblige.
 
True. That pretty much sealed PIA's fate once it was clear that penalty wasn't going away. I had my fingers and toes crossed for another SC in the dying laps, but sadly, STR didn't see fit to oblige.
I think it was doomed either way. McLaren weren't going to pit their drivers until they saw what the slicks were doing in the rest of the field and the most likely time for an incident was at that point when the field all put on their tires. I think thats why they pitted Oscar immediately the lap after the bulk of the field pitted. If someone spun out then, and he hadn't served his penalty, forget second he might be out of points.
 
Elevate your business spending to first-class rewards! Sign up today with code AFF10 and process over $10,000 in business expenses within your first 30 days to unlock 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points.
Join 30,000+ savvy business owners who:

✅ Pay suppliers who don’t accept Amex
✅ Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
✅ Earn & transfer PayRewards Points to 10+ airline & hotel partners

Start earning today!
- Pay suppliers who don’t take Amex
- Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
- Earn & Transfer PayRewards Points to 8+ top airline & hotel partners

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Some interesting data comparison between the SCs on laps 17 and 21.
10 Seconds is ridiculous given VER 10 s penalty for deliberately crashing into other cars. Not judging but how convenient for stewards at a British race to give PIA 10 seconds so that NOR would win.
 
Lando carrying on like he won driving last to first or something, squealing away.
Head down Oscar, keep the focus.
Was obliterating the field before the SC parades got thrown.
 
Was obliterating the field before the SC parades got thrown.
I would temper that somewhat by saying that he was running out front with a clear view of what was ahead of him. VER was driving incredibly defensively and doing his level best to keep NOR at bay, so PIA was largely given a free run up front. That being said, he still needed to do a job in terms of exploiting that advantage and he was looking very safe.
 
10 Seconds is ridiculous given VER 10 s penalty for deliberately crashing into other cars. Not judging but how convenient for stewards at a British race to give PIA 10 seconds so that NOR would win.
And the British commentators, spectators and Norris were all very happy about the situation. Norris, could have been a little more gracious towards Oscar in the post race interviews.
 
And the British commentators, spectators and Norris were all very happy about the situation. Norris, could have been a little more gracious towards Oscar in the post race interviews.
To be fair to NOR, he would have had very little info at that point in time. His race engineer would not have offered any more info beyond the essentials during the race (i.e. PIA has a 10s penalty) to enable NOR to manage his race accordingly, and on the cool-down lap, his engineer + Zak Brown would have been congratulating him on his race win (as they should given NOR did nothing wrong). I suspect the first that NOR really knew about what went on was in the cool-down room ahead of the podium presentations and even then, it was PIA's version of events with no additional info/context. So at the time he was being interviewed by Jenson post-race, his understanding of the race was likely along the lines of "...I got a bit lucky with PIA copping a penalty (for whatever reason it was issued), but you take the luck when it goes your way and I never-the-less drove a good race and withstood the pressure in treacherous conditions whilst others around me threw it away."

As for the commentators and spectators? Well... unsurprising that they were (slightly) parochial.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.
Back
Top