Decisive incident
The turn 1 crash involving Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, and Charles Leclerc will continue to be discussed at length as the F1 season reaches its finale. The penalty given to the McLaren driver cost him 8 crucial championship points, which could prove decisive by the end of the season. While everyone agrees that Charles Leclerc was clearly an innocent victim of the collision, opinions differ on who was most responsible. Ferrari’s Monegasque driver, for example, implied that Kimi Antonelli was more to blame, arguing that he drove the corner as if Oscar Piastri wasn’t there.
This detailed article also analyzed telemetry data from the three drivers involved. But what reasoning did the stewards use to penalize car #81? The explanation is found in the traditional official FIA document released after each steward decision. The officials referred to the widely discussed overtaking guidelines, highlighting that Oscar Piastri’s attempt did not meet the necessary requirements to complete an inside attack.
Stewards’ explanation
“At the Safety Car restart on lap 6, car 81 (Oscar Piastri) attempted to overtake car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) on the inside of turn 1. In doing so, Oscar Piastri did not establish the required overlap before the turn-in point or at the apex itself, as his front axle was not alongside the mirror of car 12, as defined by the standard overtaking guidelines for inside passes,” the stewards wrote in their report. This represents the first element of fault attributed to Piastri.
The stewards also referred to a lock-up in the subsequent section of the statement: “Piastri locked his brakes while attempting to avoid contact by slowing, but was unable to prevent the collision with Antonelli. This contact caused Antonelli to collide with car 16 (Charles Leclerc), who was on the outside and was forced to retire from the race. Piastri was therefore judged fully responsible for the collision.”
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