After qualifying in P5 the race was going to be an uphill climb for Piastri if he expected to catch up to McLaren teammate Lando Norris. However, at the start of the race things went awry for the Australian.

With Norris making a mistake at Turn 1, which Max Verstappen and George Russell both benefitted from, ill fortune befell Piastri as the Australian got tagged by Liam Lawson who had apparently went for an overly ambitious move on the inside.

After the incident Piastri had enough pace to climb back up to P4 after finding himself in P8 following the Turn 1 melee.

In Las Vegas, Piastri was quick to pass judgement on Lawson's actions, issuing a veiled dig at the Stewards for not imposing a sanction on the Racing Bulls driver.

“I felt like I was one of the only people that actually braked to make the corner and got barged out of the way and that’s [apparently] fine,” he said. His comments come in clear disagreement with the 10 second penalty he received at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after an incident with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli that resulted in Ferrar's Charles Leclerc's DNF.

In Andrea Stella's statement following the painful double disqualification McLaren suffered in Las Vegas, the team principal said that the damage inflicted to both cars from the accidents that took place on the first lap seemed to have amplified the skid wear, and couple with the unexpected porpoising, it forced the team's both cars to be extricated from the results of the race in Nevada.

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.