Zak Brown reveals who’s to blame for McLaren’s double Sprint DNF

It was a Sprint to forget for McLaren. Into Turn 1, Piastri first made contact with Nico Hulkenberg, and was punted into his teammate. Both McLaren drivers had to stop on track after the incident.

Talking to Sky Sports, Brown was clear in his evaluation. "That was terrible. Neither of our drivers were to blame there.

"I want to see the replay again but, clearly, Nico drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was and went into his left-rear tyre," the American explained.

Not only the two papaya cars failed to finish, but Max Verstappen managed to claim all eight points this Saturday. As a result, he is now 55 points behind Piastri in the drivers' standings.

Team boss Stella said: "The points are the most important thing. I don't talk about malintent, just prudence, especially when you're in such a position which was very good for some of these experienced drivers."

The Italian looks for cautiousness, he explained about the incident. "A bit more prudence would have been good for everyone."

He continued: "The implication is what the mathematics say. We lost eight points for both drivers but we focus on ourselves."

Up next today is Qualifying, and then the United States Grand Prix is set to follow on Sunday. Looking ahead, Stella shared the MCL39 is 'competitive' with big points still on the table.

"We know if we can race normally, we have a very competitive car, two strong drivers and the scores will take care of themselves. We look forward to some normal racing," McLaren's team boss concluded.

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