Oscar Piastri was forced to step aside in the closing stages of the China Grand Prix sprint race, but footage shows he may have been dudded.
The Aussie was sitting in eighth place, behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli when the safety car ended with two laps remaining.
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Piastri was all over the back of Antonelli as they came around the final corner and shot past him to move up into seventh.
But the McLaren star overtook his rival before the finish line, meaning he had technically overtaken under safety car conditions.
While the stewards ultimately didn’t get involved, the team informed him to give the position back.
Piastri ultimately finished in sixth position with Antonelli crossing in fifth. But after the sprint race, onboard footage showed the Aussie may not have needed to relinquish the position.
As the 19-year-old Mercedes star came around the final corner, he ran wide with it appearing no portion of his tyres were inside the white lines.
Watch the incident unfold in the video player above
Former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve hit out at the incident following the race and called for an immediate rule change.
“Antonelli went off the track, so at that point, you’ve given up the right to stay ahead,” he said.
“He was more than five car lengths behind the car ahead. You’re supposed to stay within five car lengths, and he wasn’t any more.
“So what should Piastri have done? Hit the brakes and create mayhem behind? Something has to be looked into there.”
Piastri was asked about the moment in the press pool with the Aussie playing a straight bat in response.
“Yeah I mean he made a mistake in the last corner, probably did a good job to keep it on track to be honest,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s a shame that ,,, you know, just was opportunistic and you can’t do anything with that.
“But we just didn’t have the pace. I think it was pretty clear that we didn’t have the pace of Ferrari and Mercedes then so I don’t think it mattered too much.
“I think he would’ve came back past anyway but clearly some work for us to do so we’ll try and make the car a bit quicker.”
Teenager rewrites Formula 1 record books
Mercedes youngster Kimi Antonelli has etched his name into Formula 1 history by becoming the youngest driver to secure a grand prix pole position.
At 19 years, six months and 17 days old … the Italian comfortably blew the previous record away which was held by Sebastian Vettel who was 21 years, two months and 11 days old.
Antonelli produced a stunning lap to edge out his teammate George Russell by two tenths with Mercedes securing their second straight front row lockout.
Russell endured a horror Q3 with the current championship leader coming to a halt on his opening out lap with his car losing power.
After limping back to the pits the team got the car back up and running but it wasn’t enough to usurp the teenager.
Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will start from the second row with the lightning starts they’ve produced set to make the run into turn one a tantalising prospect for the race on Sunday.
China Grand Prix starting grid
Front row: Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), George Russell (Mercedes)
Second row: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
Third row: Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Lando Norris (McLaren)
Fourth row: Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Fifth row: Isack Hadjar (Red Bull), Ollie Bearman (Haas)
Sixth row: Nico Hulkenberg (Audi), Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
Seventh row: Esteban Ocon (Haas), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
Eighth row: Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
Ninth row: Carlos Sainz (Williams), Alexander Albon (Williams
Tenth row: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
Eleventh row: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
