Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has questioned McLaren’s decision not to contest Oscar Piastri’s 10-second time penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Australian racer was hit with a heavy punishment after crashing with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Piastri’s overtake attempt generated plenty of debate – one that Express Sport’s writers weighed in on earlier this week. While Antonelli failed to leave him significant room on the inside before turning in, the Australian was the one punished by the stewards.
The 10-second penalty dropped him further back in the field, and after recovering to fifth on the road, the 24-year-old was forced to watch team-mate Lando Norris complete his Brazilian GP sweep and score his second successive Grand Prix victory.
According to Steiner, McLaren should have fought Piastri’s corner harder with the stewards. “Why you don’t go there and at least say something to the stewards?” he proposed rhetorically on the Red Flags podcast.
“Even Charles Leclerc said, ‘I mean, it wasn’t Oscar’s fault.’ If the other driver, who was taken out, says, ‘Hey, nothing to do with him. Maybe I was a little bit too optimistic.’ He didn’t say that because he wouldn’t admit to that one. But you know, three wide.
“At some stage with all these rules and interpretation, and 10 seconds instead of five and all that stuff, where does racing end? We just line up and we get away. Everybody gets away like they started. Make sure that you don’t even look at anybody because you get a penalty. But the fans don’t like that.”
Steiner also believes that fighting against the penalty could have offered a psychological boost to Piastri. Instead, the Melbourne-born racer’s confidence appears to be at rock bottom after being out-scored by Norris and Max Verstappen in the last six straight race weekends.
“It’s psychological as well,” Steiner continued. “Obviously, I overdid it sometimes, which doesn’t help. But then stating the facts, it shows that you know what you’re doing. You show this and this is wrong. You give your point of view. Will you win it?
“You don’t know. But you always have to try. That’s my opinion. And as you say, not only the drivers, the whole team, the people at home who have to come in on Monday to work again, they know that everybody’s trying their best. It’s not like we let it go.”
