US GP: How McLaren will deal with latest Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri collision after Austin Sprint

With McLaren’s handling of the Drivers’ Championship battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris already in the spotlight, disaster struck when the pair both retired from Saturday’s United States Grand Prix Sprint after another first-lap collision.

Almost two weeks after Norris made contact with Piastri during an opening lap at the Singapore Grand Prix, an incident for which the Briton would later be sanctioned by the team, the roles were somewhat reversed in Austin.

Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points at the top of the standings, tried to cut down below and overtake his team-mate in the first corner of the Circuit of The Americas, but found Nico Hulkenberg in his path, who suffered a heavy collision with the Sauber that sent the McLaren flying into his team-mate, leaving both Papaya cars with terminal damage.

Pole-sitter Max Verstappen triumphed for Red Bull in a result that took him within 55 points of Piastri and just 33 points back of Norris. The Dutchman would then later on Saturday take pole position for Sunday’s full-length race to further underline how much of a threat he is becoming in the title race.

It was a nightmare scenario for McLaren in the Sprint, giving Verstappen a decent points gain in a race he would probably have struggled to keep them behind had they cleared the first corner.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella both blamed Hulkenberg for the crash, but the former would later retract his criticism of the Sauber driver.

Former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick disagreed, suggesting that Piastri had made “a poor judgment call” while her colleague Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok said McLaren is in a “difficult” position after setting a “precedent” by punishing Norris for what happened in Singapore.

Brown blames Hulkenberg before U-turn

There were similarities to the Singapore incident in that Norris had attempted to overtake Piastri up the inside and made contact with Verstappen ahead of them, sending him sideways into his team-mate.

On this occasion, Piastri tried to pass Norris but found Hulkenberg’s Sauber on the inside and made much more significant contact that almost flipped his car and sent it thudding into Norris.

In both situations, it is reasonable to assume that if there had been no other cars in the vicinity, contact between the McLarens would have been avoided.

But while no one suggested Verstappen was at fault in Singapore, in Austin Brown and Stella were highly critical of Hulkenberg, who battled Fernando Alonso inside Turn 1.

Brown, speaking to Sky Sports F1 from the McLaren pit wall, while the Sprint was still running, said: “It was terrible. None of our drivers to blame there.

“That’s some amateur hours of driving by some drivers up there at the front, (they) knocked two guys out.

“I’d like to see the replay again, but obviously Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear.”

But on questions of Sky Sports F1 on whether he had changed his mind a few hours later, Brown said: “I’ve gone through it, I think I’ve changed my mind. I can’t really put it on Nico.

“Obviously, in the heat of the moment, what I saw there, a lot of goings-on at first, bothered me quite a bit. But I don’t think it’s on Nico.”

What remained unclear was whether Brown believed it was just a racing incident, or rather that Piastri was somehow responsible.

Stella, speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the sprint, said: “It’s surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience don’t act with more caution – go to the first corner, make sure you don’t hurt the competition and then carry on.”

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

Norris softens the defense of Piastri

Norris was initially extremely dismissive of a proposal from a Sky Italy reporter that Piastri might face some kind of action over the incident.

He said: “He got hit, no? He got hit, didn’t he? So why is it his fault? Oscar got hit by another car. Oscar got hit, it can’t be his fault.”

But after looking back on the incident, Norris appeared to take a slightly different approach, saying he would get the chance to “understand a few more things” when the team conducts a full review next week.

After qualifying second for Sunday’s race, Norris said: “It’s like all things from what we do as a team, it will be reviewed. I think it takes a bit more time to understand everything and for sure, just before qualifying and probably before the race tomorrow is not the best time.

“I think things are being reviewed just to understand a few more things. But other than that, it’s nothing I can do. I just have to turn on and do my own thing.

Piastri admitted that had he been aware of the position of the cars behind him, he could have “done something a little differently”.

The Australian said so Sky Sports F1: “I think it’s just a racing incident. Lando and I were way off the lead and it’s impossible to see everything at the time, so if I’d known there was three-wide behind me, I might have done something a little differently. But you have to trust your gut and your instinct, and that’s what I did.”

‘It was avoidable’ – Patrick criticizes Piastri

Sky Sports F1’s Patrick argued that Piastri could have yielded to Norris and avoided the risk he took by trying to cut under his team-mate.

“We saw this at speed and it looked like they both slowed down so much and Oscar was really careful,” Patrick said.

“That’s what can happen sometimes if you try to stay away from each other so much and do something outside of your norm of maybe driving around outside and going at it like that.

“Inside the cockpit it’s so different to what we see, but everyone goes into the first corner with as much speed as possible and he braked some extra.

“It was avoidable. He could have fallen in line behind Lando and continued. Instead, he was invited into that hole. It was bad judgment.”

Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle sympathized with Piastri over the challenging nature of Turn 1, but said responsibility for the multi-car collision ultimately rested with the Australian.

“I drove here by myself a few weeks ago in an F1 car and could barely see the first corner as I had nothing else to worry about,” Brundle said.

“For Oscar Piastri, if you make that move with the pack behind you, there’s a very good chance someone is going to be there and smack you in the side, so I’m going to have to put it on Oscar.”

Does McLaren need to reverse ‘After Effects’?

The biggest story of the weekend before the Sprint collision had been McLaren’s decision to reveal that Norris had been sanctioned for the Singapore incident, but then refused to say exactly what advantage they gave Piastri.

Interviews with the drivers and team principals had revealed that Norris’ punishment was a sporting one and would be implemented at the United States Grand Prix and potentially across the five remaining rounds of the season that follow.

Brown’s insistence that the measures would have “zero interference” with racing on a Sunday led many to assume that Piastri would be given an advantage in qualifying, allowing him to choose whether he would prefer to take to the track before or after Norris for the most crucial races – and this appeared to play out in both qualifying sessions in Austin.

Former F1 world champion Jenson Button and his colleague Sky Sports F1 pundit Chandhok discussed after Saturday’s sprint whether McLaren now had to remove or reverse the sanctions against Norris.

Chandhok said: “In my opinion, I wouldn’t have done anything here, but I wouldn’t have done anything for Singapore because it was also a 1st round racing event.

“The difficulty they’ve got themselves into internally is by doing what they did after Singapore and publicly declaring it, it’s set a precedent.”

Button added: “If I was a team principal, no, because it’s one of those things. From what Zak has said so far, other drivers have run into Oscar.

“From a racing driver’s point of view, it was more on Oscar. Lando isn’t even in this conversation. He was just unlucky to be there.”

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

Sky Sports F1’s live United States GP programme

Sunday, October 19
18.30: Grand Prix Sunday: USA GP build-up*
20:00: USA GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Checkered flag: US GP reaction
11:00 p.m.: Ted’s Notebook

* also live on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in North America for the US Grand Prix in Austin, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event with Sunday’s race at 20.00 (build-up from 18.30). Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime