McLaren are continuing to conduct a thorough review of Oscar Piastri's contentious 10-second penalty from Sunday's British Grand Prix, with team principal Andrea Stella maintaining the sanction was "very harsh".
The Australian driver was penalised for "erratic driving" during a Safety Car restart at Silverstone, an incident that cost him victory in the rain-affected race.
"I was actually taking another look at the data and the video before coming here," Stella told reporters after the race. "I have to say that the penalty still looks very harsh."
The team principal confirmed McLaren would examine the incident from multiple perspectives, including whether there were factors the stewards should have considered more carefully in their decision-making process.
McLaren team principle Andrea Stella believes the decision was 'very harsh'
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The incident occurred when race leader Piastri "suddenly braked hard and reduced speed in the middle of the straight from 218kph to 52kph", according to the stewards' verdict.
This forced championship leader Max Verstappen to take "evasive action to avoid a collision", briefly overtaking the McLaren driver down the Hangar Straight.
The stewards determined this constituted "erratic driving" as the Safety Car had signalled it was preparing to return to the pits for the race to restart.
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The Australian was handed the penalty after breaking behind the safety car
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Stella noted that "the 50 bar [brake pressure], it's a pressure that you see during the Safety Car run, when you do some braking and acceleration", suggesting the braking was not unusual for Safety Car conditions.
McLaren are also investigating whether "other competitors" may have "made the situation look worse than what it is", Stella revealed.
"We know that as part of the race craft of some competitors, definitely there's also the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not," he said.
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McLaren had requested the stewards investigate the incident after the race when they could speak to the drivers involved before issuing judgement.
"We thought it was appropriate to discuss after the race, because I think we should have checked in detail the opinion of the drivers involved," Stella explained.
Despite this, the McLaren team principle concluded: "The penalty has been decided, has been served, and we move on."
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Oscar Piastri expressed his deep frustration with the decision after the race
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After the race, Piastri expressed clear disappointment at losing what he believed was a deserved victory, initially holding back his comments.
He said: "I'm not going to say much, I'll get myself in trouble. Apparently you can't brake behind the Safety Car anymore. I did it for five laps before that."
Speaking to media later, the 24-year-old was more forthright: "I thought the penalty was pretty bad but, anyway, I'm glad we had a quick car today, showed what I needed to prove, and it's just disappointing when what you deserve gets taken from you."
Despite the setback, McLaren secured a one-two finish with Lando Norris inheriting victory in his home race, further extending their championship leads at their home event.
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