Norris and Piastri share reactions to Lap 1 collision in Austin Sprint

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have each given their take on the Lap 1 melee that put them both out of the running in the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix.

While polesitter Max Verstappen held the lead from the McLaren pair off the line, chaos unfolded into the first corner as Piastri was tagged by the Kick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg.

This sent the Australian into a spin – which launched him into the other papaya car of Norris, immediately taking the Briton out.

Piastri tried to continue on, but the damage proved too significant and the championship leader was forced to pull off the track, bringing the Woking-based team’s Sprint to an early end.

When asked for his take on the incident after the event, Norris suggested that the blame was with some drivers behind.

“I mean, what was I meant to do in that – I just got hit,” the 25-year-old 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.”

There was a similar assessment of what happened from Piastri. Pushed on how much it hurt to suffer a DNF, the nine-time race winner conceded: “It’s obviously not ideal, but I actually haven’t seen what happened yet.

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

While Piastri remains at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings on 336 – with Norris 22 points adrift in P2 – Sprint winner Verstappen has now closed the gap down to 55 points in third place.