McLaren’s Zak Brown insists his Formula 1 drivers weren’t to blame for the multi-car shunt at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race, instead blaming “amateur hour” driving from rivals including Nico Hulkenberg.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri battled for second place heading into Turn 1 on the opening lap of the sprint, but as Norris dived down the inside of Piastri after a slow start, Piastri tried to cut-back on the exit of Turn 1 and re-take the position, only to collide with Hulkenberg’s Sauber instead.
The stewards quickly decided no further action was needed - but Brown made his feelings clear when Sky Sports F1 spoke to him just after the incident.
“Yeah, that was terrible,” Brown said.
“Neither of our drivers to blame there, some amateur hour driving from some drivers up there at the front, wiped [out] our two guys.”
Asked to clarify if he was solely referring to Hulkenberg with his ‘amateur hour’ comment, Brown said: “Err, I want to see the replay again, but clearly Nico drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, went into his left rear tyre.”
Despite Piastri’s cutback being the trigger point, McLaren feels this was a racing incident. And Hulkenberg was not the sole source of its frustration.
Its argument is that more experienced drivers – including Fernando Alonso who dived down the inside of Hulkenberg at Turn 1 and prevented him from turning into the apex – should have exhibited better judgement.
Speaking after the sprint, team principal Andrea Stella doubled down on Brown's comments.
"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience don't act with just more prudence: just more prudence, go through the first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors and then carry on," Stella told Sky Sports F1.
Hulkenberg, who finished the sprint in 13th, felt Piastri "turned in pretty aggressively" and at that point he had little room for manoeuvre.
"He wanted to get the undercut and the run on the exit of Turn 1," said Hulkenberg. "But I was kind of there and I can't just disappear.
"And I had Fernando attack me on the inside, and I couldn't see him anymore. I saw in the peripheral vision, that he dived in, but then, you don't see a car anymore. So I kind of wanted to let space for him in case he didn't have it under control.
"And then Oscar turns in, and yeah, the contact was inevitable."
As for Piastri, he felt the cutback was on at the point he attempted it, and that trying to hold on around the outside when Norris had gone deep was equally a high-risk move.
"I got hit, what else was I meant to do? That's about it, I got taken out, not a lot I could have done," Norris told Sky Sports F1.
Piastri said: "We both went pretty deep into Turn 1, tried to cut back and got a hit, not a great way to start the day but need to have another look."
