Verstappen’s radio messages during the race clearly indicated he did not approve of the penalty he was given, but he was warned to keep his thoughts to himself.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he felt the penalty was “very harsh” and asked rhetorically: “Whatever happened to ‘let them race on the first lap?’ That just seems to have been abandoned.”
The stewards’ verdict contained an answer to that – it said that the normal penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage was 10 seconds, but they reduced it to five because it was the first lap.
Verstappen was penalised for cutting the chicane after the start and keeping the lead.
Piastri had got fully alongside him on the inside on the entry to the first corner. Despite this, Verstappen cut the second part of the chicane and retained the lead.
F1’s driving standards guidelines effectively say that the corner was Piastri’s in that situation.
They say that for a driver overtaking on the inside to be “entitled to be given room (his car) must have its front axle at least alongside the mirror of the other car prior to and at the apex, be driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex and not have ‘dived in”; and in the stewards’ estimation have taken a reasonable racing line and been able to complete the move while remaining within track limits.”
Piastri comfortably complied with all these criteria.
He said: “The stewards had to get involved, but I thought I was plenty far enough up (alongside) and in the end that’s what got me the race.
“I knew that I had enough of my car alongside to take the corner. We obviously both braked extremely late. For me, I braked as late as I could while staying on the track. And I think how it unfolded is how it should have been dealt with.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “Oscar, thanks to a very good launch off the grid, and thanks to positioning the car on the inside, [was] slightly ahead of Max, managing to keep the car within the track limits, then he gained the rights (to the corner), and obviously in that situation you can’t overtake off track.
“This is a clear case. It shouldn’t create any polemic, really.”
Verstappen led until the first pit stops, when he served the penalty and dropped behind Piastri, who controlled the race from there to take his third win in five grands prix this season.
It included a bold move around the outside of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari on the approach to the high-speed Turns 22 and 23 at a critical point of the race, to minimise his time loss on the lap Verstappen stopped.
Verstappen had shown strong pace in the first stint, tracked closely by the McLaren, and was pulling away slightly by the time Piastri made his stop on lap 19.
Once into the lead, Piastri controlled the race but was unable to extend his lead over Verstappen despite having the advantage of clean air.
