Oscar Piastri crashed in the sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, dealing a huge blow to his F1 title race, but did his championship rival and McLaren teammate inadvertently cause the accident?
Piastri was running third on lap six when he hit a wet curb at Turn 3, causing his car to spin into the barriers, where Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto were also killed shortly after.
Each driver seemed surprised by his car’s extreme reaction to the curb, suggesting that corner conditions may have changed from previous laps.
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Sprint highlights of the Sao Paulo GP.
The potential cause was discovered when second-place Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli radioed in to tell engineers that leader Norris had hit the curb at Turn 3 on lap six, causing a large amount of water to splash up.
We don’t know for sure, but it’s possible that the water spread around Norris as he ran wide may have contributed to the three crashes that followed.
Piastri: It was a stupid mistake.
Regardless of whether more water in the area contributed or not, Piastri admitted he made a “stupid mistake” by overextending himself.
“I just dipped my wheel into the white line on the curb and avoided it,” said Piastri, who saw the gap between him and Norris at the top of the drivers’ standings widen to nine points after the Briton won the sprint.
“A stupid mistake, or an unfortunate mistake. That’s all.”
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Oscar Piastri has briefly explained his early crash in the São Paulo sprint race, leaving him further behind championship rival and teammate Lando Norris.
Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok agreed with Piastri’s honest self-assessment.
“That’s wrong,” Chandhok said. “Other people got through it, but he didn’t.
“I feel sorry for him, but this was the driver’s mistake.”
‘It’s a little strange’ – Colapinto and Hulkenberg remain confused
Several cars made it through the corner without crashing, as Hulkenberg was 10th and Colapinto 14th before the crash.
But both men suggested it was little different from previous laps.
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Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto have spoken out about the track water problem that disrupted their sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
“I lost the car in Turn 3, which is strange because there was fresh water or something, but I have to look onboard,” Colapinto said.
“It was a bit strange because the other car also spun there on the same lap. I’m not sure at the moment, but it was quite strange.”
“I know the track was a little damp, but I had already done a few laps and it felt good.”
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Oscar Piastri crashed in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint at a crucial moment in the World Championship.
“It was a very sudden break offensively and I don’t see much recovery from that,” Hulkenberg said.
“The team said that Oscar may have started there first and set his wheels wide, spraying water from the kerb onto the track.
“I just drove, it wasn’t much different than the previous lap, but I completely lost the rear and lost the car.”
Russell joke: It was like a banana from Mario Kart!
Norris, who maintained his momentum in the title race with a sprint win, admitted that he was running wider than he intended at Turn 3 on lap six.
“This is the curb I always use. I use it a lot in qualifying,” he said at a press conference for the top three after the sprint.
“Obviously in wet conditions like this you want to avoid the curbs, so I ran a little bit wider.
“I could see water coming onto the course, but that was it.”
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Despite winning the São Paulo Grand Prix sprint race, Lando Norris still had high hopes for McLaren.
George Russell, who finished third behind Mercedes teammate Antonelli, interjected after Norris’s above comment, joking that the incident was reminiscent of the Mario Kart video game where you throw obstacles into the path of cars behind you.
“When I threw the banana backwards, it felt like Mario Kart,” Russell laughed.
“The smartest guy on the grid, this guy (Norris).”
After claiming it was the best sprint result of his career, Antonelli explained that he became extra cautious when he saw Norris run wide on lap six.
“Lando went wide and I saw the water come up. In fact, a lot of water got into the visor,” the Italian rookie said.
“But it was very tricky, especially in the beginning, so I tried to stay away from the curbs throughout the race.
“So I thought I would be a little more careful to avoid spins and moments, especially when I saw him coming up in the water, because at the beginning the end of the last sector and sector one was the wettest and it was really important to keep it clean to get through.”
Sky Sports F1 Sao Paulo GP Schedule
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A look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Sunday, November 9th
3:30pm: Sunday’s Grand Prix: Sao Paulo GP Build-up
5pm: Sao Paulo Grand Prix
7pm: Checkered flag: São Paulo GP reaction
8pm: Ted’s Notes
F1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with the São Paulo Grand Prix at 5pm on Sunday, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 from 3.30pm. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
