Zak Brown blasts ‘amateur hour’ Hulkenberg as Norris and Piastri collide

Zak Brown did not hold back after both McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, were eliminated at the start of the United States Grand Prix Sprint.

Brown took aim at Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, calling out “amateur hour” driving as contact between Piastri and Hulkenberg, sent Piastri crashing into McLaren teammate Norris. Both McLaren drivers were out of the Sprint.

Zak Brown: ‘Amateur hour driving’ eliminates McLaren

The trio of F1 2025 title contenders populated the front three grid slots for the United States GP Sprint. Max Verstappen launched from pole, with Norris second and Piastri third. Only Verstappen made it out of Turn 1 unscathed.

Piastri took a look around the outside of Norris into T1, but tucked back in and looked to swoop down the inside for a better exit. Unfortunately, the gap was occupied by Hulkenberg in the Sauber. Piastri was put onto two wheels by the contact, and sent slamming into Norris, eliminating both McLarens from the race.

Giving his immediate reaction to Sky F1, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was not impressed.

“Yeah, that was terrible,” he said. “Neither of our drivers to blame there. Some amateur hour driving, some drivers up there at the front, wiped our two guys.”

Having used the term “some guys”, Brown was asked whether he therefore was not talking about Hulkenberg exclusively, with further contact made back in the pack in an eventful start.

“I want to see the replay again, but clearly Nico drove into Oscar, and he had no business being where he was,” Brown clarified. “He went into his left rear tyre.”

Norris retired on the spot, while Piastri soon parked the sister McLaren due to suspension damage. Sky F1 co-commentator Martin Brundle put it to Brown that the damage at least did not look too bad, with qualifying to come later in the day.

“We’ve got to see them, but it looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully the damage is relatively easy to fix,” he said.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris head-to-head in F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Hulkenberg also found himself in the bad books of McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who said a driver of Hulkenberg’s extensive experience should act with more “prudence” in such a scenario.

Hulkenberg has 244 grand prix starts to his name.

“The reaction is that we are disappointed that we didn’t have the possibility to race today,” Stella told Sky F1. “The first corner incident took both cars out of the race. It’s surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience, don’t act with just more prudence. Go through the first corner, make sure you don’t damage competitors, and then carry on.

“So overall, disappointed, but we take it on the chin. We are now focusing on repairing the cars, and there’s a lot to do, and then we restart the weekend. From there, I think we are in a strong position from a competitiveness point of view. So we hope we have the possibility to race normally and capitalise on our performance.”

He added: “I don’t talk about malintent, but just talk about prudence, especially when you are in such a position, which was very good for some of these experienced drivers. I think a little bit more prudence would have been good for everyone.”

Verstappen drove on to Sprint victory, taking eight further points out of Piastri’s Championship lead.

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