Martin Brundle sympathises with ‘unlucky’ Oscar Piastri over ‘damaging’ Brazilian GP Sprint incident

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Oscar Piastri’s woes continued in the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race, as the championship protagonist crashed out of the race on lap eight after falling foul of the damp conditions.

The Australian driver was sitting comfortably in third place, behind leader Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli in second, before he was thrust into the barriers as he navigated between turn two and turn three.

Piastri’s results have declined in recent race weekends in comparison to the quick start he got off to at the beginning of the season.

After losing the lead of the championship at the most recent round of racing in Mexico, the crash saw his main title rival of Norris move even further ahead in the F1 standings.

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Martin Brundle thinks Oscar Piastri was ‘unlucky’ with his crash in the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race

Speaking on Sky Sports F1’s live commentary of the Sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Martin Brundle offered his take on the crash, highlighting the effect that the points-less result for the 24-year-old will have on his championship challenge.

Upon seeing a replay of the incident, Brundle said, “What’s happened is, I think he’s just pulled a little bit of water onto the track, off the kerb, and that sent the other two absolutely flying.

“And that car hit the barriers hard, Franco Colapinto, you heard it, you didn’t see it in the background there. So, yeah, Hulkenberg hit the kerb as well.

“I don’t know about Colapinto yet, but they’ve all done exactly the same thing. Pulled a little bit of water that sits in the serrations of those kerbs, and it sent them into the barrier.

“Wow, that’s pretty damaging for Oscar Piastri, obviously, in his quest for the world championship.”

The pundit concluded his verdict by highlighting how unfortunate the incident was for the McLaren driver, saying, “That’s so unlucky, it’s unlucky for all three of them.”

Following the conclusion of FP1 at Interlagos, Brundle tipped Piastri to regain his form from earlier in the season this weekend as the title fight reaches a head. The former F1 driver certainly didn’t foresee this occurring for the Australian.

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Karun Chandhok was impressed with Lando Norris’ ability to get through turn three cleanly despite water on the kerb

A red flag was swiftly thrown into play following the offs from three cars during the race, giving Karun Chandhok enough time to look through the onboard footage and analyse them.

As alluded to by Brundle, the wet patch on the kerbs through turn two was deemed to be at fault, and the former F1 driver praised the race leader for his ability to navigate the corners cleanly.

He said, “Colapinto has a sort of similar positioning, similar throttle application to Piastri. He was pretty unlucky to have been caught out there in these tough conditions.

“But the most impressive one is actually how Lando was able to get through there and pick up the power, with the rear of the car not moving around at all. He just got the trajectory right, throttle application right, and got away with it.”

Norris went on to withstand a late attack from Antonelli in the closing laps of the race to take his second win in the Sprint format of the season.