Max Verstappen said he found it “strange” that Oscar Piastri was handed a decisive penalty for a Safety Car infringement during the British Grand Prix, as Red Bull boss Christian Horner bemoaned the fact George Russell escaped punishment for a similar incident in Canada last month.

Piastri was penalised for slowing suddenly having just taken control of the pack as it was confirmed the Safety Car was coming in at the end of lap 21 at Silverstone.

Verstappen pulled ahead of Piastri as he appeared to struggle to slow sufficiently to stay behind the McLaren, but the Dutchman then spun moments later as he attempted to keep up with the accelerating leader.

Piastri was given a 10-second penalty, which saw him lose out on victory to his team-mate Lando Norris, while Verstappen dropped to 10th before recovering to finish fifth.

“I only found out after the race that he got one (a penalty),” Verstappen said. “No one told me during the race.

“The thing is that it’s happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario.

“I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds for it.”

Verstappen appeared to be referring to an incident at last month’s Canadian Grand Prix, which resulted in Red Bull launching a post-race appeal against Mercedes’ Russell as they alleged the Brit had driven erratically behind the Safety Car.

Russell was cleared of any wrongdoing and kept hold of victory as Verstappen finished second.

Asked whether Verstappen thought Piastri’s situation was different to Russell’s, he replied: “To the stewards, yes.”

Horner ‘not surprised’ by Piastri penalty

Verstappen’s Red Bull boss Horner went a step further as he bemoaned the fact that Russell wasn’t penalised in Canada.

Horner said: “I wasn’t surprised to see him (Piastri) get a penalty. That was what we would expect.

“It was probably more surprising that George didn’t get one in Montreal, to be honest with you.

“But that’s it. Unfortunately, our race unfolded from that point.”

The stewards explained that Piastri had been given a penalty for suddenly applying 59.2 pounds per square inch (psi) of brake pressure on Sunday.

When Red Bull’s protest against Russell was rejected in Canada, the stewards said that the Mercedes driver had only applied 30psi, which was not deemed erratic.

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff branded Red Bull’s protest in Canada as “petty” and “embarrassing”, while Horner said afterwards that he had “no regrets”.

Verstappen: Piastri incident didn’t cause spin

Verstappen refused to blame the incident for his spin moments later, suggesting the error was a result of his low-downforce car setup, which made driving in the wet conditions hugely challenging.

He said: “I just tried to go on throttle but the car has been really difficult already up until that point with just trying to find a nice rhythm, and it just caught me out on cold tyres.”

However, Horner appeared to believe the Piastri incident had played a part in unsettling Verstappen before his spin.

“Oscar obviously did what he did on the brakes, on the run up to Stowe,” Horner added.

“It caught Max out. As you’re preparing to take the restart, it caught him out completely unawares as to what was going on.

“All your preparation, your switches, everything you don’t manage to get in the right place. Oscar’s then gone, Max is trying to go with him. And obviously he’s had a half-spin out of Stowe.”

Piastri: It was the same as my first restart

Piastri felt the penalty was harsh, insisting he had done exactly the same thing at the previous Safety Car restart earlier in the race.

“I hit the brakes. At the same time I did that, the lights on the Safety Car went out, which was also extremely late,” said Piastri, whose world championship lead over Norris was reduced to eight points.

“And then obviously, I didn’t accelerate because I can control the pace from there. And you saw the result. I didn’t do anything differently to my first restart. I didn’t go any slower. I didn’t do anything differently. So, a shame.”

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella agreed that the penalty had been “harsh” on their driver.

Brown told Sky Sports F1: “The Safety Car seemed like it was called in a bit late. The leader controls… I think Max accelerated, Oscar braked, which made it look worse than it was. The telemetry didn’t look like it looked on tv. But it is what it is.

“I think any time you get into these penalties, there’s an element of subjectivity. I think when they’re pounding on the brakes, they’re 130-140 PSI, so trying to get temperature in the tyres, it’s wet, late call – a close one.”

Stella reiterated Brown’s point that McLaren felt aggrieved by how late in the lap the decision was taken that the Safety Car would be coming in.

He told Sky Sports F1: “We certainly gave our input to the race direction, especially related to the fact that we thought the Safety Car was called in relatively late. This didn’t give much space for the leading driver to actually take control of the group and go with the restarting procedure.

“We think overall that 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.”

F1 takes a brief break before the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1 on July 25-27. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.