Oscar Piastri says his opening lap contact in Austin with Esteban Ocon, that led to both drivers retiring from the US Grand Prix, was just “one of those incidents” where no one was at fault.
Piastri had lined up tenth on the starting grid after a disappointing qualifying on Friday but the McLaren charger enjoyed a strong launch that saw him clock in sixth at the end of the first lap.
However, on the exit of Turn 2, a contact ensued between the McLaren and Ocon’s Alpine as the two pair ran side-by-side.
The contact appeared insignificant and indeed Piastri was able to hold his own in sixth position during the opening ten laps of the race.
But soaring engine temperatures indicated that there was clearly damage under the hood of the McLaren which compelled the team to retire the car on lap 10, a decision taken by Alpine regarding Ocon’s A523 on lap 6.
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"The impact with the front left wheel with one of the Alpine's caused damage in the water system under the bodywork on the sidepod,” explained McLaren team boss Andrea Stella.
"This meant that we had a gradual loss of water pressure and at some stage we saw that temperatures were going out of control, pressure kept reducing, so we needed to retire the car."
Piastri qualified the seemingly inconsequent run-in as a racing incident.
“I didn’t really think anything of it, to be honest,” he said. “I felt like I definitely had the right to be there.
“I don’t think Esteban did anything untoward. We met and, unfortunately, it’s caused damage for both of us. Just one of those incidents.”
Piastri nevertheless lamented the frustrating outcome as the 22-year-old felt that he was on track for a good result after his disappointing display in Saturday’s sprint event in which he finished tenth.
“Throughout practice and qualifying, I was improving through each session,” he explained.
“But then obviously going into the sprint, it was the first time we’d done consecutive laps in racing conditions, and it’s kind of just starting the learning process all over again.
“Today was a better step forward from yesterday, maybe still not quite to the level I would have liked, but definitely a big improvement from yesterday.
“A shame it’s over early because I think there was still a lot of learning to go on from this afternoon. I was getting better and better – I just needed to do it a bit quicker.”
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