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Laurence Edmondson
SILVERSTONE, England — Lando Norris emerged victorious in a wet and wild British Grand Prix that saw McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri stripped of his chance of victory by a 10-second penalty for a safety car infringement.
Piastri still claimed second place, but Norris’ home win, which marked his first at Silverstone and his fourth of the season, moved the British driver just eight points behind his teammate in the championship standings.
Nico Hulkenberg claimed the first podium of his 239-race career, bringing an end to the unwanted record of the driver with the most race starts without a podium.
Piastri, who passed Max Verstappen for the lead of the race on Lap 8 in wet conditions, was penalised 10 seconds for driving erratically ahead of a safety car restart on Lap 21.
The McLaren driver appeared to brake aggressively on the Hangar Straight, resulting in Verstappen, who was running in second place, passing him as the Red Bull was forced to take evasive action.
“Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 [Piastri] to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off,” a stewards statement said.
“What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article. In accordance with the penalty guidelines, we imposed a 10-second time penalty to Car 81.”
As the cars exited Stowe corner ahead of the restart, Verstappen spun to the inside of the track and dropped from second place to tenth when racing got back underway.
Verstappen’s spin moved Norris up to second place and meant the British driver only had to remain within 10-seconds of his teammate to ensure he took the lead when Piastri served his penalty at a pit stop on Lap 43.
The final round of pit stops saw the field move from the treaded intermediate tyres to slicks, with Piastri nearly losing control of his car as he took to the run-off area at Maggots on his outlap.
The Australian, who clearly felt the penalty was unfair, radioed his team to ask them to swap the cars back before the chequered flag, but with five laps left to go he was informed there would be no team orders to that effect.
Norris went on to take the victory by six seconds from Piastri, with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber 21 seconds behind in third and five seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in fourth.
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