Damon Hill highlights the ‘irony’ of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris crashing at the US Grand Prix

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Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’ Sprint race at the United States Grand Prix lasted all of just one corner, and former F1 driver Damon Hill has pointed out the ‘irony’ behind their tussle at turn one.

The McLaren duo arrived in Texas with one goal in mind: to retake control of the frontrunning spots of the grid in order to halt Max Verstappen in his attempts to make a last-minute bid for a fifth consecutive world championship.

The Dutchman took first blood on Friday afternoon. Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Norris for Saturday’s Sprint race, and with Piastri behind the pair in third, the run up to turn one was bound to be an interesting spectacle.

That’s exactly what we got.

The Red Bull man took a comfortable lead into the first corner, but Piastri, aware that his championship lead had been dwindling in recent races, attempted a switchback on his McLaren counterpart to devastating consequences.

Piastri was thrust up into the air by Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber on his inside, and the Australian was sent careering into the side of Norris’ MCL39. Both drivers were forced to retire from the race.

READ MORE: Max Verstappen wins US Grand Prix Sprint race after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crash

Damon Hill highlights the ‘irony’ of McLaren’s crash after their rules of engagement made headlines in Austin

Speaking on BBC 5 Live’s coverage of the Sprint race at the United States Grand Prix, Hill gave his verdict on who was at fault for the incident.

He said: “I do think that Nico Hulkenberg slightly got suckered into going in a bit deep there, and was not prepared for Oscar Piastri to cut across him quite the way that he did.

“And, of course, he couldn’t pull away, he couldn’t turn any further left, because on his inside was Fernando Alonso, so he was squeezed.”

Hill then touched upon the biggest news that has emerged out of the McLaren garage this weekend, which regards the way in which Norris and Piastri race each other on track.

The 1996 world champion added: “The irony of all this is that there was all this discussion about the drivers in McLaren not crashing into each other.

“Now they’ve both taken each other out, but neither of them were to blame for that at all.”

Hill’s verdict was opposed by Martin Brundle and Karun Chandhok, with the Sky Sports F1 presenters in agreement in regards to the ‘huge’ risk that Piastri took in attempting the switchback move at the first corner of the race.

READ MORE: Andrea Stella and McLaren have made a big realisation about Red Bull after watching Max Verstappen at US GP

Lando Norris received a punishment for his part in McLaren’s clash at the Singapore Grand Prix

The headlines that have come out of the F1 paddock so far this weekend have been focused on the repercussions that Norris has received for his aggressive move on Piastri at the previous round of racing in Singapore.

F1 commentator David Croft believes McLaren’s handling of the situation was ‘counterintuitive’, whilst Chandhok declared that he wants to see more selfishness from the two teammates in the ensuing races.

Piastri’s opportunistic move at the start of the Sprint can certainly be seen as selfish, and with Norris also being caught up in the incident, it means that he is no worse off in terms of the championship battle.

Martin Brundle highlighted the fact that McLaren’s star driver pairing was ‘always going to go wrong’ in a verdict on the line-up being ‘doomed to fail’.