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Former driver Danica Patrick has shared her insight into McLaren's disastrous lap 1 sprint collision at the US Grand Prix, where Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris crashed after contact at Turn 1. The incident unfolded just seconds after the lights went out, ending both drivers' races and greatly reshaping the Sprint.
talking Sky Sports F1 Post-Sprint, Patrick suggested that Piastri's attempt to stay wide and carry momentum into Turn 2 led to the collision.
“Oscar would still be on the outside for the next corner — he would have needed a lot of push,” Patrick said (via @LucianoYoma to X). “He slowed down more and that's why he got so bad. At this point, the group has closed more and the gap is gone.”
Both McLaren drivers started in the top three, Lando Norris in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3, next to polesitter Max Verstappen. Chaos erupted behind the Red Bull driver when fourth-starting Nico Hülkenberg touched the side of Piastri's MCL39, which launched into Norris' car. Norris turned and left immediately. Piastri tried to continue, but was deflected with terminal damage.
The crash triggered a safety car and eliminated Verstappen's two main rivals, leaving the Red Bull driver to dominate. It also rekindled the discussion around it McLaren intra-team dynamicsgiven that the couple had already tied the knot in Singapore earlier this month.
Lando Norrisvisibly frustrated, it was clear in his post-race comments. He said (via F1):
“I mean, what did I want to do about it: I just got hit. I didn't do anything wrong. Things happened further back, and I got unlucky and got hit because of it. I need to look a little harder. It's more people further back just being a little careless, and we're the consequence of that.”
while many fans felt that Patrick's comments were too harshthe incident marked McLaren's first double DNF in a Sprint this season and cost them valuable momentum in the title race.
In the championship standings, Oscar Piastri remains at the top with 336 points, Norris is 22 down in second and Verstappen has closed the gap to 55 after his victory. The clash with COTA has given Red Bull new hope, with only five rounds to play.
Oscar Piastri calls it 'a shame' as Max Verstappen wins Sprint in Austin
After the McLarens were wiped out, Max Verstappen's path was clear. The Dutchman made a clean restart after the Safety Car and held off an early move from George Russell, who briefly attempted an overtake at Turn 12 but went wide. From there, Verstappen controlled the pace and built a steady lead.
Behind him, Russell took a composite second place for Mercedes, while Carlos Sainz took Williams' first Sprint podium of the season in third. Verstappen reflected on the victory in a measured tone, saying (via F1):
“I mean, the start was good. Then, of course, there was the safety car because of the incident at Turn 1, and it took a few laps after the safety car to get a decent pace, so we have to try to figure out what was going on there.”
For Oscar Piastri, the mood was much softer. The Australian said he had not yet fully reviewed the footage but accepted it as an unfortunate racing incident.
“Obviously it's not ideal, but I haven't actually seen what happened yet. I tried to clip Lando. I mean, we were both very far from the apex and then we got hit, and obviously it sent me to Lando, so (it's) a shame,” he said.
Oscar Piastri now heads into qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix with limited data and a huge disadvantage, given the team lost its only real long-term answer to the early double retirement. On Sprint weekends, with only one practice session, this data loss can be decisive.
Meanwhile, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari will be able to make set-up adjustments using information from Sprint before the closed park is closed again.
For Oscar Piastri, his two previous visits to COTA have been fruitless, with a DNF of P10 in 2023 and P5 in 2024, while Verstappen remains untouchable in Texas. The Dutchman's latest Sprint win adds to his remarkable record at the Circuit of the Americas, where he also won from pole in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Edited by Parag Jain
