United States GP: How will McLaren handle latest Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri collision after Austin Sprint | F1 News

With McLaren dealing with the Drivers’ championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris already in the spotlight, disaster struck as the pair retired from Saturday’s US Grand Prix after another first-lap collision.

Nearly two weeks after Norris made contact with Piastri during the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix, an incident for which the Briton was later penalized by the team, the roles have been somewhat reversed in Austin.

Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points at the top of the standings, attempted to drop down and pass his teammate at the first corner of the Circuit of the Americas, but found Nico Hulkenberg in his path, as he was involved in a violent collision with Sauber that resulted in the McLaren car colliding with his teammate, resulting in both Papaya cars sustaining final damage.

Pole-placed Max Verstappen secured victory for Red Bull with a result that moved him 55 points clear of Piastri and just 33 points clear of Norris. The Dutchman will later on Saturday take pole position for the full race on Sunday to further underscore just how big of a threat he has become in the title fight.

It was a nightmare scenario for McLaren in the drag race, giving Verstappen good gains in a race that he would likely have struggled to keep back had he made it past the first turn.

McLaren CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella initially blamed Hulkenberg for the accident, but the former later walked back his criticism of the Sauber driver.

Former IndyCar and Nascar driver Danica Patrick disagreed, believing Piastri made “poor judgment,” while her teammate Sky Sports F1 Pundit Karun Chandhok said McLaren was in a “difficult” situation after setting a “precedent” by punishing Norris for what happened in Singapore.

Brawn blames Hulkenberg before the turn

There were similarities to the Singapore incident where Norris attempted to pass Piastri on the inside and made contact with Verstappen in front of them, resulting in him colliding with his teammate.

On this occasion, Piastri was attempting to pass Norris but found the Hulkenberg Sauber inside his own, creating more significant contact which nearly flipped his car and sent it into Norris.

Either way, it’s fair to assume that had there not been any other cars in the vicinity, contact between the two McLarens could have been avoided.

However, while no one suggested Verstappen was in charge in Singapore, in Austin, Brawn and Stella were harshly critical of Hulkenberg, who was competing with Fernando Alonso at Turn 1.

Brown, speaking to Sky Sports F1 “That was terrible,” he said from the McLaren pit wall while the Sprint race was still running. “Can’t blame any of our drivers there.

“That’s some hours of amateur driving by some of the drivers out there at the front, (they) hit a couple of guys.

“I want to watch the replay again, but obviously Nico Hulkenberg collided with Oscar and he wasn’t supposed to be there, he hit his left rear tire.”

However, when asked before Sky Sports F1 “I reviewed it, and I think I changed my mind,” Brown said of whether he changed his mind a few hours later. “I can’t really put that on Nico.”

“In the heat of the moment, obviously what I saw out there was quite disturbing, a lot of accidents in Turn 1. But I don’t think this has anything to do with Nico.”

What remains unclear is whether Brown believed it was just a racing accident, or rather that Piastri was somehow responsible.

Stella is talking to Sky Sports F1 After the Sprint race, he said: “It’s surprising that some very experienced drivers don’t act more cautiously – go into the first turn, make sure you don’t hurt the rivals and then keep going.”

In his post-qualifying media briefing, Stella confirmed that Norris and Piastri were happy to revisit the incident after the weekend, but stood by his earlier assessment that “more caution” from the drivers behind them “would have been helpful”.

Norris eases into Piastri’s defence

Norris was initially very dismissive of the proposal from A.J Sky Italy Reporter that Piastri may face some type of action over the incident.

He said: “He was hit, wasn’t he? He was hit, wasn’t he? Then why is it his fault? Oscar was hit by another car. Oscar was hit, it can’t be his fault.”

However, after witnessing the incident, Norris appeared to be taking a slightly different approach as he said he would get a chance to “understand a few more things” when the team conduct a full review next week.

Speaking after the second qualifying for Sunday’s race, Norris said: “It’s like all the things we do as a team, they will be reviewed. I think it takes a little longer to understand everything and, of course, just before qualifying and maybe before the race tomorrow is not the best time.”

“I think things will be reviewed just to understand some other things. But apart from that, I can’t do anything. I just have to move on and do my own thing.”

Piastri admitted that if he had known the location of the cars behind him, he might have “done something a little differently.”

The Australian said Sky Sports F1: “I think it’s just a racing accident. Me and Lando were way off the top and it’s impossible to see everything at that point, so if I had known there was a triple behind me, I probably would have done something a little different. But you have to trust your gut and your instinct, and that’s what I did.”

“It could have been avoided” – Patrick criticizes Piastri

Sky Sports F1 Patrick argued that Piastri could have yielded to Norris and avoided the risk he took by trying to cut back his teammate.

“We were watching this quickly and they both seemed to slow down a lot and Oscar was really careful,” Patrick said.

“That’s what can happen sometimes if you’re trying to get away from each other too much and you do something that’s out of your nature of racing out there and going like that.

“Inside the cockpit, the scene is completely different to what we see, but everyone is racing into the first turn as fast as possible and he slowed down even more.

“This could have been avoided. He could have gotten in line behind Lando and continued. Instead, he was called into that gap. It was poor judgment.”

Sky Sports F1 Martin Brundle sympathized with Piastri about the difficult nature of the first turn, but said the responsibility for the multi-car collision ultimately fell to the Australian.

“I drove here alone a few weeks ago in a Formula 1 car and could barely see Turn 1 when I didn’t have anything else to worry about,” Brundle said.

“For Oscar Piastri, if you make that move with the herd behind you, there’s a very high chance that someone will run over and bump into your side, so I’ll have to pin that on Oscar.”

Does McLaren need to reverse the ‘fallout’?

The biggest story of the weekend before the Sprint crash was McLaren’s decision to reveal that Norris had been penalized for the Singapore incident, but then refused to share the advantage they were giving Piastri.

Interviews with drivers and team bosses revealed that Norris’ penalty was a sporting penalty and that it would be implemented at the United States Grand Prix, and possibly during the remaining five rounds of the following season.

Brown’s insistence that the measures would have “no interference” with the race on Sunday led many to assume that Piastri would have the advantage in qualifying, allowing him to choose whether he would prefer to take to the track before or after Norris in the more important rounds – and that appeared to have happened in both qualifying sessions in Austin.

Former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button and his teammates Sky Sports F1 Pundit Chandhok discussed after Saturday’s Sprint race whether McLaren now needs to remove or cancel the sanctions applied to Norris.

“In my mind, I wouldn’t have done anything here but I wouldn’t have done anything for Singapore because that was also a racing accident on the first lap,” Chandhok said.

“The difficult thing they have gotten themselves into internally is that doing what they did after Singapore and announcing it publicly sets a precedent.”

“If you’re a team manager, no, because it’s one of those things,” Button added. “And from what Zac has said so far, other drivers have taken the Oscars by storm.

“From a race driver’s point of view, it was more about Oscar. Lando wasn’t even in that conversation. He was unlucky to be there.”

With a back-to-back race in Mexico City next weekend, all eyes will be on Norris and Piastri at Thursday’s media day to see if McLaren reveal a change of plan regarding sanctions.

Live US GP schedule on Sky Sports F1

Sunday 19 October
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: US Grand Prix preparations*
8pm: US Grand Prix*
10pm: Checkered flag: US Grand Prix reaction
11pm: Ted’s notebook

*Also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in North America for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event with Sunday’s race at 8pm (starting at 6.30pm). Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime