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Motorsport

McLaren to review Austin F1 sprint crash – but not just yet

Lando Norris Oscar Piastri McLaren Nico Hulkenberg Austin Andrea Stella Fernando Alonso Max Verstappen LAT Images Sauber

When Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri bumped wheels on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix two weeks ago, an incident that defined the finishing order of the two McLarens in the race, Piastri was promised a "detailed, and very analytical" review.

The outcome was that Norris would face "repercussions" in the form of mild disciplinary sanctions, the nature of which have been the subject of fevered speculation within the paddock over the US GP weekend.

A similar process will take place after the collision that left the two McLaren drivers facing in opposite directions at Turn 1 in the sprint race at the Circuit of The Americas, although the circumstances were very different. In Singapore it was very much a papaya-on-papaya incident, although Max Verstappen also received a tap from Norris before the contact with Piastri.

In Austin, the circumstances involved two other cars, and opinions have been divided over whether Nico Hulkenberg was the chief culprit or Piastri partially authored his own misfortune by attempting to execute a karting-style cut-back on Norris. The configuration of Turn 1 in Austin militates against manoeuvres such as this being successful when the track is crowded.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing crash (Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

These mixed opinions exist within the team itself, since CEO Zak Brown initially blasted Hulkenberg before recanting publicly, while team principal Andrea Stella continued to lament the Sauber driver's lack of "prudence".

Norris, a largely innocent party although his slow start led to him being more assertive at Turn 1 than he otherwise might have been, has been purposefully vague over whether or not he feels aggrieved by his team-mate's first-corner gambit and its outcome. Asked by Sky Sports Italia whether he expected Piastri to now suffer "repercussions", Norris repeatedly batted away the question by saying "Oscar got hit" and "it can't be his fault".

During the FIA press conference later that day he was invited to be more specific about his view of the accident and was similarly careful in his phrasing.

"Like all things we do as a team, it'll be reviewed," said Norris.

"I think it probably takes a bit more time to understand everything, and certainly just before qualifying and probably before the race tomorrow is not the best time. So, yeah, I think things will be reviewed to just understand a few more things.

"But apart from that, you know, it's nothing I can do. Like, I just have to crack on and do my own thing. I was pretty unlucky to not have a chance to race earlier.

"And, yeah, that's not just hurt me yesterday or today, but also for the race tomorrow in terms of preparation. So, yeah, it was a difficult time. But I said what I said, and I won't add any more."

Lando Norris, McLaren (Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images)

There are powerful reasons to park the issue for the rest of the weekend and return to it mid-week, or even post-Mexico. The damage cannot be undone, and in any case it was limited since sprint races are not generous points-payers. McLaren's focus has to be on extracting maximum points from the grand prix.

"Obviously, we've had a couple of conversations with Lando and Oscar," said team principal Andrea Stella.

"But the conversations were fundamentally about resetting. In racing, you can't look backwards too much, especially when you have a qualifying session ahead.

"So, it was a conversation about resetting. As usual, we will review at the right time the incident. We will do that collaboratively, the team, the drivers, and we will make the right assessment.

"This follows the way we approach the situation based on our racing framework. And both Lando and Oscar were happy with this kind of approach."

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images)

The circumstances of the Austin incident will be more challenging to unpick than those in Singapore because there were – literally – more moving parts. Norris was trying to make up for a slow start by staking his claim to track position at Turn 1, Piastri was giving him the space to do that but angling to come back at him on the run to Turn 2.

The ‘cut-back' is a common move here at COTA, but risky to execute at such a busy stage of the race since there is always likely to be someone diving into that space – in this case Hulkenberg, who also had to contend with Fernando Alonso launching his Aston Martin up the inside. The physics of the incident are inarguable: Hulkenberg was squeezed on both sides and ended up with nowhere to go, sending Piastri briefly into the air, where he collected his team-mate's car.

More complicated to preside over is the apportionment of responsibility. The stewards declared it a no-further-action racing incident, because a penalty requires one driver to be "wholly or predominantly to blame". Others, including McLaren's Brown at first, thought Hulkenberg too impetuous and old enough to know better, while another school of thought suggests that Piastri showed a lack of awareness that his manoeuvre was inviting precisely this sort of collision.

For now, Stella is standing by his man.

"What I said straight after the sprint was that I think a bit more prudence, a bit more prudence from drivers that come with a lot of experience, especially when they are in a good position, would have been helpful," he said. "And I can confirm that this is still my opinion."

Which begs the question: if the incident was so clearly Hulkenberg's fault, why review it?