Oscar Piastri hits back with three angry words after controversial penalty at the Brazilian Grand Prix left his world title chances on a knife edge

A defiant Oscar Piastri has hit back at the 10-second penalty that left his championship hopes on life support at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Piastri's Brazilian Grand Prix unravelled early when he collided with Kimi Antonelli on lap six, forcing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to crash out - and leading the Aussie to angrily remark 'I can't disappear' as he and other F1 drivers blamed the Italian for the incident. 

Piastri steered his McLaren down the inside at Turn 1 during a restart but locked his brakes and clipped Antonelli's Mercedes. 

Race stewards deemed Piastri 'wholly responsible' for the collision and handed him a 10-second penalty. 

That decision ended any podium hopes, leaving him to finish fifth behind Lando Norris, Antonelli, Verstappen and George Russell.

'He left me with no space,' a frustrated Piastri protested over the radio.

'I can't disappear, but the [stewards'] decision is what it is.'

It followed a sprint race crash that had already cost Piastri points earlier in the weekend. 

Afterwards, Piastri said Antonelli gave him 'no space' and that he 'had a clear opportunity'.

'I had a very clear opportunity. I went for it. The other two on the outside braked quite late,' he said.

'There was obviously a bit of a lock-up into the corner, but that was because I could see Kimi was not going to give me any space.'

Leclerc agreed and said Piastri did not deserve all the blame, adding that Antonelli 'knew Oscar was on the inside' and could have avoided contact. 

He described his retirement as 'very frustrating' after starting from third and missing a likely podium.   

'Oscar was optimistic, but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think,' Leclerc said.

'And he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there. And for me, the blame is not all on Oscar.

'Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I'm frustrated.

'At the end of the day I'm not angry with any of Oscar or Kimi, these things happen.

'But yeah, I wouldn't go as far as saying that it's all of Oscar's fault. I don't think it is.'

The penalty widened the gap between Piastri and Norris to 24 points in the championship standings.

With only three races remaining, Norris can now finish runner-up in each event and still secure the title even if Piastri wins every remaining race.

Piastri must outscore Norris heavily in Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi to keep his hopes alive.

Norris did not directly comment on the Piastri incident, but he did say that Kimi Antonelli would need to 'thank Charles' for keeping his teammate out of the race on team radio.

'Oh my God! You have to thank Charles!' Norris said while watching the replay after the race.  

Sky Sports F1 analyst Jamie Chadwick argued that Piastri did not deserve the penalty.

'The person that hasn't necessarily used all the room available to him is Kimi for me. And so I actually am on the sort of side of where I think Oscar has been hard done by here,' she said.

'He's not, in my opinion, locked up because he's out of control,' she said.

'He's locked up because he's seen Kimi turning in a bit on him and his natural reaction is to press the brake pedal a little bit harder, turn as much left as you can to get as close to the white line, causing that lockup.

'But for me, even with the lock-up, he's still as far to the white line as he can be and still hasn't been given the room by Kimi.'

However, leading analyst Martin Brundle said the right decision had been made.

'That's the standard penalty,' he said on the Sky Sports broadcast.

'There were no mitigating circumstances, so I'm not surprised. He had to have a go, there's no doubt about that, but the penalty is a fair cop.'