Oscar Piastri was left struggling to understand why he was punished so severely in the São Paulo Grand Prix, with him judging it as "tough" having done everything he could to avoid a collision.
Piastri received a 10-second time penalty for being deemed at fault for a collision involving himself, Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc on the sixth lap of the São Paulo Grand Prix.
The incident occurred at the first corner following a safety car restart, with Piastri having attempted to overtake both Antonelli and Leclerc on the inside.
Piastri was on the inside of Antonelli, who had Leclerc on his outside as they entered the first corner.
Antonelli squeezed Piastri which forced a lock-up, before the McLaren driver hit the Mercedes, which as a result then went into Leclerc. Due to the penalty, Piastri ended up finishing in fifth, falling 24 points Lando Norris in the title fight.
Reflecting on the incident after the race, Leclerc defended Piastri and outlined that Antonelli was largely at fault, while the Australian driver conceded himself there was nothing more he could have done.
Discussing the incident and him being penalised, Piastri told select media including RacingNews365: "I don't know. No matter what way you look at that, I'm not sure where I'm supposed to go.
"Because, when you have that good of a run into Turn 1 and are fully alongside, you're not just going to back out. I think to go in, try and go in any deeper than I did, would have been ambitious.
"And, you know, I was where I was. So I think, in that scenario, I think if I was clearly under steering and missing the apex and then hit Kimi, then sure I'd understand.
"But the fact that I was as far left as I could have gone makes it tough."
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