With McLaren’s handling of the drivers’ championship battle between Oscar Piatri and Lando Norris already in the spotlight, disaster struck when the pair withdrew from Saturday’s United States Grand Prix sprint after another first lap clash.
Almost two weeks after Norris made contact with Piastri during an opening-lap overtake at the Singapore Grand Prix, the roles were somewhat reversed in Austin, an incident for which the Briton would later receive the team’s approval.
Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points, pulled away at the first corner of the Circuit of The Americas and attempted to overtake his team-mate, but found Nico Hulkenberg blocking his path and collided heavily with the Sauber, forcing the McLaren to crash into his team-mate. It caused fatal damage to both Papaya cars by sending them flying.
Pole-sitter Max Verstappen cruised to victory for Red Bull, finishing within 55 points of Piastri and 33 points behind Norris. The Dutchman would later take pole position for Sunday’s entire race on Saturday, further underlining just how big of a threat he is in the title battle.
It was a nightmare scenario for McLaren in the sprint. Verstappen scored a significant amount of points in the race and would have struggled to keep up if they had gone through the first corner.
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US Grand Prix Sprint Highlights
McLaren CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella initially blamed Hulkenberg for the crash, but the former later withdrew his criticism of the Sauber driver.
Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick disagreed and claimed Piatri made “poor judgment.” Sky Sports F1 Expert Karun Chandhok said McLaren was in a “tricky” situation after setting a “precedent” by punishing Norris for the incident in Singapore.
Brown criticized Hulkenberg before making a U-turn
There were similarities to the Singapore incident in that Norris attempted to overtake Piastri on the inside and made contact with Verstappen ahead of them, sending him wide and into his team-mate.
In this case, Piastri tried to overtake Norris, but found Hulkenberg’s Sauber inside him and made much more significant contact, almost flipping his car and thumping Norris.
In both situations, it is reasonable to assume that contact between the McLarens could have been avoided if there had been no other vehicles nearby.
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Jenson Button and Karun Chandok join George Russell to analyze the Turn 1 incident involving the Mclarens at the US GP Sprint.
However, while no one claimed Verstappen was to blame in Singapore, in Austin Brown and Stella were highly critical of Hulkenberg, who was fighting Fernando Alonso at Turn 1.
Brown, talk to me. Sky Sports F1 He said this from the McLaren pit wall while the sprint was still running: “It was absolutely horrible. None of us drivers can blame it.
“That’s because some drivers up front were driving during amateur hours and surprised a couple of guys.
“I’d love to see the replay again, but obviously Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was. He went into the left rear tire.”
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Highlights of the US Grand Prix qualifying.
However, if the other person asks Sky Sports F1 Changing his opinion a few hours later, Brown said: “I’ve looked into it and I think my opinion has changed. I can’t say that to Nico.”
“In the heat of the moment, what I saw out there – I saw a lot of the incidents at Turn One – was obviously quite bothersome, but I don’t think it was about Nico.”
What was still unclear was whether Brown thought it was just a racing incident, or rather that Piastri was responsible in some way.
Stella, talk to me Sky Sports F1 After the sprint, “It’s surprising that some more experienced drivers don’t act more carefully. Go to the first corner, make sure you don’t damage your rivals, and then continue.”
At the post-qualifying press briefing, Stella confirmed that Norris and Piastri were happy to review the incident after the weekend, but stood by their previous assessment that “more caution” from the drivers behind them “would have helped”.
Norris weakened Piastri’s defense.
Norris was initially extremely dismissive of one person’s suggestion. sky italy Piastri may face some kind of action over the incident, the reporter said.
He said: “He was hit, no? He was hit, right? But why is it his fault? Oscar was hit by another car. Oscar was hit. It can’t be his fault.”
But looking back on the incident, Norris seemed to take a slightly different approach, saying the team would have a chance to “understand a few more things” when they conduct a full review next week.
Norris said after finishing second in Sunday’s race: “Everything we do as a team will be reviewed. It will take a little more time to understand everything. “Certainly right before qualifying and before tomorrow’s race will not be the best time.
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Mclarens put in an inconsistent performance with Lando Norris securing the front row with Oscar Piastri only managing sixth place after US GP qualifying.
“I think I’ll review it to understand a few more things, but other than that there’s nothing I can do. I just have to break it down and do my thing.
Piastri admitted that he might have “done something a little different” if he had known the location of the car behind him.
the australian said Sky Sports F1: “I think it’s just a racing incident. Lando and I are so far away from the top that you can’t see everything at that point, so if I had known there was a three-wide behind me, I might have done something a little bit differently. But you have to trust your gut and your instincts, and that’s what I did.”
‘It was avoidable’ – Patrick criticizes Piastri
Sky Sports F1 Patrick argued that Piastri could have given way to Norris and avoided the risks he had taken by attempting to cut under his team-mate.
“We were watching this at high speed and they both seemed to have slowed down too much and Oscar was being really careful,” Patrick said.
“This is something that can happen sometimes when you try to stay too far away from each other and do things outside of the norms of running around and going that way.
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Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle believes McLaren’s attempt to ‘react’ Lando Norris following his clash with Oscar Piastri in Singapore will ultimately have negative consequences.
“It’s so different inside the cockpit than what we see, but everyone is rushing into the first corner as fast as they can and he slows down.
“It was avoidable. I could have continued in line after Lando. Instead, I ended up getting caught in the gap. That was a bad decision.”
Sky Sports F1 Martin Brundle sympathized with Piastri about the challenging nature of Turn 1 but said responsibility for the multi-car crash ultimately rested with the Australian.
“I drove here alone in an F1 car a few weeks ago and could barely see the first corner because I had nothing else to worry about,” Brundle said.
“In the case of Oscar Piastri, if you move like that with the pack behind you, there’s a very high chance that someone will come and crash into the side of you, so you’ll have to pin that guy on Oscar.”
Should McLaren reverse the ‘repercussion’?
The biggest story of the weekend before the sprint crash was McLaren’s decision to reveal that Norris had been sanctioned for the Singapore accident and refuse to share exactly what advantage it gave Piatri.
Interviews with drivers and team bosses revealed that Norris’ punishment is a sporting penalty and will be implemented at the United States Grand Prix, potentially over the remaining five rounds of next season.
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McLaren CEO Zak Brown insists the team is doing everything it can to ensure drivers Oscar Piatri and Lando Norris ‘race fairly and equally’.
Brown’s claim that the move would result in “zero interference” in Sunday’s racing led many to assume that Piastri would gain an advantage in qualifying, giving him the choice of whether to go to the track before or after Norris for the all-important race, something that appeared to play out in both qualifying sessions in Austin.
Former F1 world champion Jenson Button and his teammates Sky Sports F1 Expert Chandhok debated whether McLaren should now remove or cancel the sanctions imposed on Norris after Saturday’s sprint.
“I think it wouldn’t have done anything here, but it wouldn’t have done anything for Singapore either because that too was a lap one race incident,” Chandhok said.
“The tricky thing for them internally is to do what they did after Singapore and declare it publicly. This sets a precedent.”
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Oscar Piastri gets angry on the radio when Lando Norris passes by after making contact in Singapore.
Burton added: “Not if I were the crew chief, because it’s one of those things. From what Zak has said so far, other drivers have driven Oscar.
“From a racing driver’s perspective, it was closer to the Oscars. Lando wasn’t even in this conversation. He was just unlucky to be there.”
With back-to-back races in Mexico City next weekend, all eyes will be on Norris and Piastri at Thursday’s media day to see if McLaren discloses any sanctions-related changes to its plans.
Live US GP schedule on Sky Sports F1
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the United States Grand Prix.
Sunday, October 19th
6:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: U.S. GP strengthened*
8 p.m.: United States Grand Prix*
10 PM: Checkered Flag: US GP Reaction
11 PM: Ted’s Notes
*It will also be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 returns to North America for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, with the race being broadcast live at 8pm on Sunday on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event (starting at 6.30pm). Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime
