In the high tech world of Formula One its at times amazing the lack of up to date information senior individuals with the teams are furnished with. After the debacle at the start of the Sprint which was caused by Oscar Piastri returning in on Nico Hulkenberg, both Zak Brown and Andrea Stella appeared to blame the German Sauber driver for the incident.
Brown is the Sky team boss, occasionally broadcasting live from the pit wall this weekend and when asked for his thoughts on the incident, moments after it happened he was adamant in his opinion.
“Yeah, that was terrible,” he said. “Neither of our drivers to blame there. Some amateur hour driving, some drivers up there at the front, wiped our two guys. Clearly Nico drove into Oscar, and he had no business being where he was. He went into his left rear tyre,” was the conclusion of the McLaren CEO.
McLaren boss appears not to know the facts
Yet within minutes of the incident TV replays clearly showed it was Piastri who was too ambitious on turning in to the first corner who was to blame for the following carnage. Even after the session team principal Andrea Stella remained of the view that it was not his driver who was at fault.
When asked for his thoughts he said: ”The reaction is that we are disappointed that we didn’t have the possibility to race. It’s surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience don’t act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, make sure you don’t damage competitors and carry on.” Clearly he was not reprimanding his own driver and following Brown’s lead blaming Hulkenberg and even Fernando Alonso.
“We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the possibility to race, race normally and capitalise on our performance,” Stella continued. “The points are the most important thing, I don’t want to talk about mal-intent, just prudence. A little more prudence would be good for everyone.”
By now the likes of 1996 champion Damon Hill for BBC Radio 5 had analysed the incident and placed the blame firmly on the leader of the drivers’ championship. He suggested Piastri lacked “awareness” of the risks of turn one in Austin when he chose to cut back inside where it was likely other cars would be.
Multiple ex-F1 drivers blame Piastri
Jenson Button and Karun Chandhok for Sky placed the blame firmly on the Australian’s shoulders along with Danica Patrick guest presenter for the sports channel this weekend. Yet the drivers in interviews also appeared to be unaware for the nam,inmous opinion surrounding the incident.
Lando Norris was almost aggressive when asked by an Italian reporter for his views on the matter. “Oscar got hit”, adding: “It can’t be his fault.” When the journalist persisted, Norris interrupted restating, “Oscar got hit… he got hit,” in somewhat of a dismissive fashion. Neither drivers were asked publicly for their views later in the day.
Yet clearly a quick review of the matter had taken place within the McLaren camp given Zak Brown inevitably faced the question of whether he retained his opinion that Hulkenberg was to blame when on the pit wall for Grand Prix qualifying. “No. I’ve reviewed it. I think I’ve changed my view. I can’t really put that on Nico,” he replied.
“So in the heat of the moment, obviously pretty bothered what I saw there, you know, a lot of incidents in Turn 1. But, I don’t think that’s on Nico,” was Brown’s conclusion. Andrea Stella was rather sly when he was asked whether he’d revised his view on the Sprint incident.
Tsunoda lashes out at Red Bull
Stella shifts his interpretation
“We’ve had a couple of conversations with Lando and Oscar, 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 the incident at the right time. We will do that collaboratively, the team, the drivers, and we will make the right assessment. So this follows the way we approach this situation based on our racing framework and both Lando and Oscar were happy with this kind of approach,” said the Italian.
When asked about his comments suggesting Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso should have shown more “prudence,” Stella was slippery. “What I said straight after the sprint was that I think a bit more prudence [is needed]. A bit more prudence from drivers comes with a lot of experience – especially when they are in a good [championship] position. This would have been helpful and I can confirm that this is still my view.”
Unpack that! Well drivers in a good championship position are clearly the McLaren duo, Hulkenberg and Alison are both outside the top ten currently. Norris was clearly not to blame as he was minding his own business but Piastri in just his third year in the sport does not have “a lot of experience” from which Stella says prudence comes.
McLaren face issuing “consequences” to Piastri
The usually unflustered McLaren team principal appears very frustrated this weekend and even irritated at times. He and Zak Brown have been pestered by the media over the mystery “consequences” they declared Lando Norris will face for the rest of the season.
Whilst they refused to illuminate their inquisitors over the exact nature of the punishment for Lando’s turn one incident in Singapore, it became fairly obvious during qualifying that Piastri had choice of whether he ran ahead of his team mate or behind.
When under pressure to get a lap in to progress, Piastri reversed his previous decision and decided to go out first to avoid yellow or red flags. Now McLaren will face the inevitable inquisition again today, over whether they will take similar action against their Australian driver for what was a far bigger mistake which took out three cars including his own and that of his team mate.
Bearman escapes one race F1 ban for now
Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman is walking a tightrope given he is sitting on ten F1 driver penalty points with twelve being an automatic race ban. Ironically Bearman was the last driver to benefit from another being banned as he stood in for Kevin Magnussen for Haas last season at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.
Yet unlike Magnussen who is known for his aggressive driving style, Oliver’s travels which have been punished by the stewards are defined by a lack of experience. His first points which will expire after the Mexican Grand Prix were issued in Saudi Arabia Paulo for a collision with Franco Colapinto in the second practice session (2pts).
The came Monaco this year and the British driver overtook Carlos Sainz under a red flag and was slammed by race control (2pts.) Again in Silverstone it was another red flag incident which attracted the attention of the stewards as Bearman did a racing pit entry in wet conditions and under the red flag. The result? He crashed heavily (4pts)…… READ MORE
A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
At TJ13, Andrew plays a central role in shaping the site’s output, working across breaking news, analysis, and long-form features. Andrew’s responsibilities include fact-checking, refining editorial structure, and ensuring consistency in reporting across a fast-moving news cycle.
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