In Silverstone, Formula 1 is still feeling the aftermath of the Austrian weekend. Particularly in the debate over the rules. As was to be expected, this was touched upon in the usual driver briefing on Friday. Right in the middle of this debate: Oscar Piastri. He went to the briefing frustrated after the trouble in the Austrian qualifying. He was not appeased: “The frustration of last week was reignited yesterday.”
For Piastri, the anger revolves around the fact that his best qualifying lap in Austria was cancelled because he exceeded the track limits by a few centimeters. At a point where there is a gravel bed directly behind the kerb anyway, and any violation is therefore actually irrelevant. McLaren even protested against the cancellation, but failed due to procedural errors.
Piastri is not only annoyed by the circumstances of irrelevance, but also by the evidence that the FIA stewards used to remove the penalty. At first he believed that he had been convicted based on the helicopter camera, not by a method that can be used on every lap. “It wasn’t the helicopter thing, that was obviously not used,” he now knows. “What is even more worrying is when we look at what was used…”
Piastri doesn’t want to reveal too many details from the briefing, which is always attended by all drivers, teams and representatives of the race management. But he can’t hide his frustration. “They were pretty bad,” he says of the explanations given. Is he satisfied with the conclusions? “No.”
Piastri maintains: track limit method was incorrect
“The methodology for cancelling the lap was not correct and that is quite frustrating,” says Piastri. The drivers had expected a long briefing on Thursday. One thing is certain: FIA will not relax its track limit regulations. The directive remains: Every time you cross the white line it will be considered an infringement. Regardless of whether it gives you an advantage. Even if you drive through the gravel.
“I think we had a very open conversation about possible improvements, and for the most part they were very open-minded,” Piastri tries to remain positive. “We have made a lot of progress. There are just a few things where we still need to make small steps.”
“Sometimes common sense should prevail,” says Piastri, referring to the track limit principles. “Sure, the current system is simple. You go out and everything is track limits. In a way, it’s consistent and easy to follow. But when you’re clearly not getting any benefit from it, it feels unnecessarily harsh.”
Piastri also admits that it is difficult for the race management and stewards to examine each individual violation separately for this benefit question and also to make a separate decision when there are potentially numerous violations. “I understand that it is not easy on a case-by-case basis. We have made good progress in mutual understanding.”