’100 per cent wasn’t speeding’: Piastri fumes over costly penalty
Oscar Piastri couldn’t believe his downturn in luck at Monaco as the Australian was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane at Monte Carlo.
Piastri was adamant that he followed the limit perfectly, arguing a problem must have occurred in the lane as multiple drivers were also slapped with identical penalties.
Piastri told media he '100 per cent' wasn't speeding in the pit lane. Jayce Illman
“The pitlane speed is f--ked, because I was doing the right speed,” he said over the radio to his McLaren team.
According to official FIA documents, Piastri breached the 60km/h pit lane restriction by a mere fraction.
“Car 81 exceeded the pit lane speed limit which is set at 60km/h for this event by 0.1km/h,” it noted.
The McLaren driver ultimately crossed the line in fourth place, inheriting the position partly due to a post-race penalty for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, but he doubled down on his frustration when speaking to the media.
“I think there was a problem with the track or something because 100 per cent I wasn’t speeding,” Piastri claimed after the race.
“The team said we weren’t speeding as well. I’m not sure what happened there.”
A host of drivers, including George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Gasly and Franco Colapinto all copped matching five-second penalties for the same infringement.
Piastri also fumed at the track in Monte Carlo, which quite literally started to break apart during the race and stopped the race on lap 68.
He explained that the track “broke up pretty quickly” and that because the damage was on the racing line, drivers began taking the corner tighter to avoid it because “it was like ice”.
Two drivers fell victim to the slippery turn 19 corner, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and home town driver Charles Leclerc, who was seen on the coverage fuming at his team after the crash.
“At first, it kind of looked like marbles, but then you could see some of the holes in the ground,” Piastri explained.
“Clearly by the end, it was not in a great state, so obviously that kind of stuff shouldn’t be happening.”
Piastri was asked whether the track felt OK when the race restarted with 10 laps to go, to which he replied with a short “no.”
“When you make up three spots in Monaco, that’s always a good day,” Piastri said further.
“Whilst I didn’t do the overtaking myself, we did a good job of taking advantage of things playing out ahead of us and being smart with the strategy.
“Getting those 12 points was important.”
“However, our pace wasn’t very strong today and we need to work out why we have struggled so much this weekend.”
Piastri will be back in the car as Formula 1 travels to Barcelona next weekend, with the race set for Sunday.
