McLaren blame ‘amateur-hour’ driving after Norris and Piastri wiped out
McLaren and their drivers have reacted to their disastrous US GP sprint.
McLaren have hit out at “amateur-hour driving” from their F1 rivals after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were taken out of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.
McLaren teammates and title rivals Norris and Piastri were battling for second place heading into Turn 1 on the opening lap of the sprint, but Piastri was hit by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber from behind.
The championship leader was subsequently sent flying into the side of Norris, with both McLaren drivers wiped out in the chaotic melee.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was quick to pin the blame on Hulkenberg, insisting his drivers could have done nothing to avoid the multi-car accident.
"That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there," Brown told Sky Sports F1.
"That's some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, [they] wacked out two guys.
"I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear tyre.
"It looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully it's relatively easy to fix."
How did Norris and Piastri react?
Norris said he was simply a helpless passenger.
"I got hit. What else was I meant to do?” Norris said.
"I need to look at it a bit more. I just got hit, I got taken out, so not a lot I could have done.”
Piastri described it as “not a great way to start the day”.
"I've not seen the incident from the tv cameras, but obviously I had a pretty good start,” the Australian added.
"We both went pretty deep into Turn 1 and I tried to cut back, and got a hit, so obviously not a great way to start the day.
"I need to have another look.”
Max Verstappen won the sprint race to narrow his deficit to the McLaren drivers in the championship.
The Red Bull driver is now 55 points behind Piastri and just 25 adrift of Norris.
Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle said Norris and Piastri can’t allow Verstappen to get in their heads.
"McLaren need to just drive their cars. They have a fast car. If they think about Max, they are thinking about the wrong thing,” Brundle said.
"The back end of the Red Bull needs some work on it. That's the only crumb of comfort for McLaren because that Red Bull today lucked beatable.”
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