Max Verstappen dropped his reaction to Oscar Piastri’s “very extreme” penalty during the 2025 F1 British Grand Prix. The Australian driver was awarded a 10-second time penalty and an additional 2 penalty points on his FIA license. This snatched the race victory for him despite being the fastest driver on the track.
Oscar Piastri was close to winning the British Grand Prix considering his pace throughout the race. However, a safety car restart changed his fate. After the drivers were signaled that the safety car would go in on lap 21, Piastri braked abruptly, which almost caused a collision with Verstappen in P2. This incident occurred on the Hangar Straight, and the track turned green almost immediately. Although Verstappen spun out of points right after the restart, the incident between Piastri and him was noted.
The Stewards then gave Piastri a 10-second time penalty with two points on his FIA license, which many thought was extreme. Reviewing the incident, Max Verstappen also mentioned the same. However, he further stated that he didn’t make the rules.
“It’s happened to me a few times now, of course, that people do that to me,” Verstappen told Viaplay.
“Only I only heard after the race that he got 10 seconds for that. Of course, that’s very extreme again, a 10-second penalty. But yes, I don’t make the rules.”
Despite leading the race for the remaining laps, Piastri did not win as his teammate Lando Norris stayed within the 10-second time frame and clinched a home victory. An unexpected Nico Hulkenberg joined the McLaren duo on the podium.
Max Verstappen reveals “no pace” in the Red Bull during 2025 British GP
The British Grand Prix weekend was a long one for Max Verstappen. He lacked pace throughout the sessions, and it wasn’t until RBR set his car up with trimmed-downforce that he was able to clinch the pole position. However, it was still apparent that he would lose the lead considering the weather conditions.
While he was running P2 during the safety car period, his spin ultimately put him out of points. Still, he managed to pull off overtakes throughout the race. But he recently revealed that the car still did not have any pace.
“It was just a very difficult race for us, but even after that spin I had no pace,” Verstappen said (via F1). “I was just stuck with that group and it was just very difficult to drive, and naturally of course we knew that it was going to be difficult in the wet with that [low downforce] rear wing that we had on the car.”
Max Verstappen seems to fall out of championship contention with every passing race. The team doesn’t seem to be improving, and it seems as if this would be the first season since 2021 where the Dutchman wouldn’t clinch the title.
