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By Saajan Jogia
Sports Contributing Writer
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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was happy about Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's 1-2 finish at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. However, he described Piastri's 10-second penalty as being "harsh." The Australian driver lost his lead to Norris after serving the penalty while pitting.
The British Grand Prix saw several twists and turns due to a damp track race start and a mid-race rain spell. But given the dominant performance of the McLaren MCL39, Piastri snatched the lead from Verstappen on the initial laps. However, the race momentum was affected on several instances due to yellow flags.
Just as a safety car was ending, Piastri hit the brakes hard, prompting Verstappen to go past him. Just as the Red Bull driver made it back to his spot behind, Piastri accelerated instantly.
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Verstappen reacted immediately, only to spin out in the next corner. The costly error dropped him from P2 to P10. However, Piastri's brake test came under the stewards' scanner, who then handed him a ten-second penalty for a safety car infringement. Stella was happy about Norris' home win but frustrated by Piastri's penalty. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, he said:
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"Well, we certainly gave our input to the race direction, especially related to the fact that we thought that the safety car was called in relatively late. This didn't give much space for the driver — the leading driver — to take control of the group and go with the restarting procedure.
"So we think overall the penalty has been harsh, but we will review the data like usual. We will see if there's any learning from that. At the moment there's not much we can do. We just have to take it on the chin.
"A tough one for Oscar because he drove very well today. He drove very well, but it's just midseason — many more opportunities. I think this will give Oscar even more motivation."
Addressing the way both McLarens performed and congratulating the team and Norris on a dominant race finish, Stella said:
"First of all, I would like to extend the congratulations to the entire team. To the people that today operated really very, very well under the direction of Randi, the race engineers, and together with the drivers — all good calls in difficult circumstances.
"Both drivers drove very well, pretty much with no issues at all. Oscar was very aggressive at the start. He gained the lead quite deservedly, and then the penalty unfortunately meant that he couldn't capitalise on a victory.
"This went to Lando. I'm sure for Lando this is a very, very, very special day — winning the home Grand Prix. P1, P2 for McLaren. So overall a very strong day. We're very happy, something to celebrate."
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