During a safety car period in Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit, a safety car period which many argue simply should have been a virtual safety car period, McLaren's Oscar Piastri slowed down unnecessarily behind the safety car, in an apparent attempt to throw off Red Bull's Max Verstappen behind him so that he might be penalized for overtaking behind the safety car.
Oddly enough, Verstappen spun out a few seconds later, though he admitted that it wasn't because of Piastri; he admitted it was a combination of human error and the balance of the car, given the tricky conditions.
Piastri, who appeared to be well on his way to his series-leading sixth win of the year before the safety car came out, was given a 10-second time penalty (plus two penalty points) for the maneuver, which all but handed the win to teammate Lando Norris.
Naturally, the "wrong passport" and "British bias" crowds were loud after Piastri's penalty was confirmed, as the 10-second difference was the difference between Piastri extending his points lead and Norris getting a home victory.
Given the historical context of certain penalties, I'm not going to sit here and suggest that this argument, in and of itself, is anything but spot-on. Having said that, it's not spot-on because of the fact that Norris was the beneficiary on Sunday.
It's spot-on because Mercedes' George Russell did the exact same thing to Verstappen in Canada and got away without even a slap on the wrist, allowing him to keep the win.
Oscar Piastri penalized, but not George Russell
The argument for Piastri's penalty was that he applied more pressure to the brakes than Russell did, but it was obvious to the naked eye that the infringement was the same. The gap between the safety car and the leader was excessive, and there was erratic driving in both instances, leading to necessary evasive action from behind.
Anybody could see it, and quite frankly, the fact that the stewards needed to compare exact brake pressure PSI just goes to show how ridiculous it is that the incidents were treated differently. If one was worthy of a penalty, so was the other. Sometimes, it really is that cut and dry. Otherwise, the stewards should simply stop micromanaging literally everything.
The fact that Toto Wolff called Red Bull's Canadian Grand Prix appeal "petty and embarrassing" was immediately turned laughable by the fact that Piastri was indeed handed a race-changing, and potentially championship-changing, penalty when he did the exact same thing only three weeks later.
Let's be real for a second. McLaren have been somewhat coddled by the mainstream media ever since they emerged as a serious threat to Red Bull and Verstappen last year. It's been embarrassingly and sometimes disgustingly obvious ever since 2021 that Verstappen is the media's (yes, mostly the British media's) anti-hero, and McLaren offered an appealing bandwagon to jump onto.
It was mostly Norris last year. Norris good, Verstappen bad. Even when roles were reversed, Norris good, Verstappen bad.
This year, with both McLaren drivers emerging as title threats, that sentiment has been shared. Piastri has been doing shady things on track all season long, whether anybody wants to admit it or not.
But because he can't shake the "ice cold" narrative that has followed him ever since he has proven himself to be a worthy challenger to preseason title favorite Norris, everyone has been afraid to admit it.
Now the entire world took notice of him trying to get into Verstappen's head, Verstappen getting into his own head as a result, and subsequently forcing him into a totally unnecessary penalty that swung the championship 14 points in Norris' direction.
After Russell's questionable move in Canada, there were those who actually tried to suggest that Verstappen deserved a penalty for "overtaking" under the safety car. There was no such narrative in Great Britain. Coincidence?
Again, two similar incidents were not treated consistently in any way, shape, or form.
Even if there's actually zero bias whatsoever, they aren't exactly helping themselves fight the accusations.
As for Norris, no, British bias didn't win him Sunday's race. He may have made his own fair share of mistakes in the past, but like it or not, he was the driver who earned Sunday's win, because he didn't mess it up like his teammate did.
At this point, we all know he has the fastest car, but he still needs to execute, and after giving us little reason to believe he was capable of that through the first couple months of the year, he has now done it in back-to-back weeks, matching his entire 2025 total from before the Austrian Grand Prix in late June.
Say what you want about him, but that's how world championships are won, even if the car is head and shoulders above the rest, and even if he's not widely considered the best all-around driver on the grid. And yes, a Sauber running third behind the McLaren duo confirms just how massive that gap is.
Let's just hope the similarly large gap closes when it comes to officiating drivers with different nationalities, because whether intentional or not, it's become so blatantly obvious at this stage.