Zak Brown criticises Hülkenberg's “amateur hour driving” after Norris and Piastri's sprint DNFs

In what could be a crucial moment in the championship, Max Verstappen claimed victory in Austin while his title rivals retired from the race on the first lap. 

The incident involving the pair of McLaren's. Photo credits: F1

As the lights went green on Saturday afternoon, a tight fight for third ensued at the first corner, with a four-way battle between Fernando Alonso, Nico Hülkenberg and the pair of McLarens.

With no space to move, Hülkenberg tagged the back of Piastri’s car, who lifted onto two wheels before slamming into his teammate, bringing Norris’ race to an immediate end. Piastri was able to keep his car running, but realised quickly he had suspension damage. The incident occurred just two weeks after another clash involving the McLarens on Lap 1 in Singapore, where Norris banged wheels with Piastri and overtook the Australian. The incident resulted in the Briton facing sanctions for the remainder of the season.

Hülkenberg suffered from front-wing damage, and while he was able to continue in the race, he was significantly hindered and finished 13th. After an investigation into the incident, the stewards ruled that there would be no further consequences; however, McLaren CEO Zak Brown wasn’t amused with the result:

“That was terrible,” Brown said to Sky Sports F1. “Neither of our drivers to blame there. Some amateur hour driving. Some drivers up there at the front whacked our two guys.”

Brown was asked if Hülkenberg wasn’t solely to blame for the incident, the CEO said:  

“That was terrible. Neither of our drivers were to blame there. Some amateur hour driving out there by some drivers.

“I want to see the replay again, but clearly Nico [Hülkenberg] drove into Oscar [Piastri] and he had no business being where he was.”

Andrea Stella gives his two cents

Team principal Andrea Stella gave his opinions on the incident, where he expressed his frustration. The Italian blasted Hülkenberg, stating he was surprised that a driver with 'such experience' doesn't act with more caution:

"Well the reaction is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the possibility to race today," Stella told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "The first-corner incident took both cars out of the race. It's surprising that, you know, like 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. So overall disappointed but we take it on the chin. We are now focusing on repairing the cars and there's a lot to do and then we restart the weekend from there.

"I think we are in a strong position from a competitiveness point of view so we hope we have the possibility to race, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

Eight points were up for grabs in the Sprint, with Verstappen trimming the gap to Piastri down to 55 points and 33 points to Norris, a significant moment in Verstappen’s charge for the title.

"Yeah, the points are the most important thing," Stella said. 

"Also, you know, I don't talk about malintent, I just talk about prudence. Prudence, especially when you are in such a position which was very good for some of these experienced drivers. "I think a little bit more prudence would have been good for everyone."

"I think, you know, like the implication is what the mathematics says. We have lost eight points with both drivers but we focus on ourselves.

'We know that if we can race and race normally we have a very competitive car, two very strong drivers and I think the score is going to take care of themselves so we just look forward to just some normal racing."

The drivers give their thoughts

Reflecting on the incident, the drivers were asked about their own perspective on what happened, with Norris stating that the drivers behind were at fault : 

“I mean, what was I meant to do in that – I just got hit,” Norris said.

“I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened, and I just got unlucky and I got hit because of it.

“I don’t know, I need to look a bit more carefully. It’s more people further back just being a bit careless, and we are the consequence of that.”

Piastri gave his view on the incident, expressing his disappointment at the early retirement: 

“It’s obviously not ideal, but I actually haven’t seen what happened yet.

“I tried to cut back on Lando [Norris] – I mean, we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit, and he [Hülkenberg] obviously sent me into Lando, so [it’s] a shame.”