Oscar Piastri handed additional penalty after Antonelli clash

Oscar Piastri has picked up a further penalty following his clash with Kimi Antonelli during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty after he slid into the Mercedes in the early stages in Interlagos, with stewards also awarding him two penalty points.

Stewards hit Oscar Piastri with points penalty

As the field restarted following an early Safety Car, Antonelli found himself vulnerable to attack by Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri as they approached the first corner.

With the Mercedes driver sitting mid-track, Leclerc moved to the outside as Piastri looked to seize the apex of the downhill left-hander.

In doing so, the Australian pinched his front-left wheel and slid into Antonelli, who in turn made what proved to be race-ending contact with Leclerc.

Investigated at the time, it was deemed Piastri warranted a 10-second penalty, which he duly served at his first stop.

However, in issuing the penalty summary post-race, officials have also handed the title contender two penalty points on his license, taking his rolling 12-month total to eight.

“At the Safety Car restart on Lap 6, Car 81 (Oscar Piastri) attempted to overtake Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) on the inside of Turn 1,” the stewards noted.

“In doing so, PIA did not establish the required overlap prior to and at the apex, as his front axle was not alongside the mirror of Car 12, as defined in the Driving Standard Guidelines for overtaking on the inside of a corner.

“PIA locked the brakes as he attempted to avoid contact by slowing, but was unable to do so and made contact with ANT. This contact caused ANT to make secondary contact with Car 16 (Charles Leclerc), who was positioned on the outside and was forced to retire from the race as a result.

“PIA was therefore wholly responsible for the collision. A 10-second time penalty and 2 penalty points are considered appropriate and consistent with recent precedents.”

According to the Driving Standards Guidelines issued to stewards, a car attempting to overtake on this inside must have “its front axle AT LEAST ALONGSIDE THE MIRROR of the other car PRIOR TO AND AT THE APEX” (emphasis retained from original FIA document).

Further, the car must be “driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex, and not have ‘dived in’.”

Having deemed Piastri did not satisfy those criteria, officials then referred to the penalty guidelines, which suggest a 10-second penalty as the baseline for drivers who are deemed to have caused a collision.

It is also recommends that the offending driver be given three penalty points, not the two as Piastri received.

Immediately after the clash with Antonelli, Piastri rose to second behind teammate Lando Norris, though slipped to seventh once he served the penalty at his first stop.

While he climbed again to run second on the road ahead of his second stop, that was a product of the pit sequence, and he eventually trailed George Russell across the line to finish fifth once the second round of stops had been completed.

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