Why Anthony Davidson was so annoyed by Oscar Piastri’s US Grand Prix Sprint Race penalty

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The United States Grand Prix has not gone to plan for McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

Oscar Piastri will start Sunday’s race from the third row of the grid alongside George Russell providing he doesn’t need to change his wrecked Mercedes to such an extent that he picks up a grid penalty or starts from the pit lane.

McLaren entered the race weekend as the team to beat after taking the lead in the Constructors’ Championship during the previous batch of races.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

Lando Norris is trying to catch Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship but gave up two more points in the Sprint Race.

The Brit will start Sunday’s race from pole position, but Norris is unsure whether he’s got a fast enough car to beat Verstappen.

Piastri has had a weekend to forget, having failed to progress past Q1 for the Sprint Race.

The Australian managed to recover to 10th place but picked up a five-second penalty after an aggressive overtaking move on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Anthony Davidson was reviewing Piastri’s manoeuvre on Sky Sports F1 and admitted he wasn’t happy about one aspect of the decision.

Davidson wasn’t annoyed with Piastri or Gasly and thought the McLaren driver was even being slightly harsh on himself to accept the penalty.

Instead, his ire was pointed at the design of the circuit which he believes is too forgiving and allowing drivers to keep their foot in knowing they can run off onto tarmac rather than grass or gravel.

Anthony Davidson unhappy with United States Grand Prix circuit design after Oscar Piastri penalty

Davidson was talking about the incident between Piastri and Gasly that led to the Australian’s penalty and said: “He hits the curb, now the problem is you’ve still got Gasly hanging around on the right-hand side.

“The reason the drivers can do that and feel that they can do that in these situations is because of the circuit design, the good old track limits.

“Now, if this bit [on the outside of the corner] was all gravel, it would have been a very different scenario.

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“I think the driver to the outside would respect the fact you can’t just go driving off the circuit and you have to yield and realise that you’ve been overtaken.

“For me, that’s hard racing and to get a penalty for that, being pushed off the track, I think Oscar was being a little bit too lenient there and agreeing with the stewards too much.

“I think the bigger problem is that the circuit design is at fault and it really bugs me stuff like this because it shouldn’t be happening anyway.”

Why Lando Norris has an advantage over Oscar Piastri at the United States Grand Prix

McLaren are in a much better position for Sunday’s Grand Prix compared to the Sprint Race.

Norris will start from pole position while Piastri is close enough to his teammate to help him if he needs to play a part in protecting his teammate from Verstappen.

That’s in stark contrast to Red Bull who watched Sergio Perez struggle once again during qualifying after failing to score a point in the Sprint Race.

Piastri has a disadvantage compared to Norris as he’s not got the same updates on his car compared to the Brit.

It makes sense to prioritise the 24-year-old but a poor result compared to Verstappen on Sunday will all but end his championship chances.

That’s the last thing McLaren will want, but they know that maintaining their lead in the Constructors’ Championship is a much more realistic goal.