Oscar Piastri was shocked by the decision made by F1 bosses just before the Barcelona Grand Prix.
Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri recently shared his thoughts about a decision that was changed five days after the Monaco Grand Prix, which moved four drivers down in the standings.
The Monaco race had lots of pit lane penalties because five drivers went over the 60km/h speed limit in the pit lane. Piastri was one of four drivers given five-second penalties for going just 0.1km/h too fast. This speed limit is lower at Monaco compared to other races because the Monte Carlo streets are very tight.
Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Franco Colapinto also got penalties for going slightly over the limit. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly lost his podium spot at first because of two penalties, including one for going 0.4km/h too fast. Russell’s penalty hurt his race, but Gasly’s two penalties had the biggest impact, dropping him from third to seventh place.
Then, five days after the race, F1 officials decided to reverse Gasly’s penalties after Alpine asked them to review the case. Gasly moved back to third on the podium behind winner Kimi Antonelli and Hamilton in second, which pushed Isack Hadjar out of the top three and cost Piastri, Liam Lawson, and Arvid Lindblad a spot each.
Before the next race at Barcelona, Piastri spoke out about the stewards’ decision. He said, “I’m pretty shocked by the decision because how can they change a ruling that was wrong, especially when others were penalized and served their penalties during the race? Changing one penalty now affects many other races. I lost my position because I served the penalty, so I should be third. But really, George should be third too, and now everything is messy. I don’t know how they’ll fix this.”
The season continued in Spain for its seventh round, and Russell bounced back from his penalty last week by taking pole position in Saturday’s qualifying. Antonelli, who has won the last five races, will start third on Sunday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hamilton will join Russell on the front row, qualifying in the top two for the first time since he joined Ferrari.