Piastri 'surprised' Ocon collision caused race-ending damage

Sam Cook
Sunday 22 October 2023 22:33 - Updated: 01:14

Oscar Piastri was left 'surprised' that 'just a bit of touch' with Alpine's Esteban Ocon was enough to force him to retire from the United States Grand Prix.

Although only minor contact between the pair, both drivers ended up back in the pits earlier than they would have wanted to be, rounding off a frustrating weekend for Piastri.

According to the McLaren driver, the contact with Ocon caused an overheating engine after breaking one of the radiators on his car.

Having claimed victory in the sprint race at the Qatar GP, and claiming two main race podiums in a row, the young Australian had looked off the pace throughout the weekend, and comes away from Austin with zero points.

Piastri struggles to recapture Qatar form

As both Ocon and Piastri scrapped over ninth position at the start of the grand prix, the pair came together in the first sector, with Ocon's front left tyre slamming into the side of Piastri's McLaren.

At first, it looked as though Piastri had got away with the contact, but straight away the Alpine driver was over the radio telling his team he had damage.

The team told Ocon to retire just a few laps later, but it was a while before the true extent of Piastri's damage came to the fore, with him retiring on lap 10.

It rounded off a poor weekend for the Australian rookie, who could only qualify for the race in 10th, whilst Saturday's sprint race also saw him come away without adding to his points tally.

After the race, he spoke to Sky Sports F1.

“It didn’t seem like a massive incident, just a bit of a touch," he said.

"I think it’s broken one of the radiators so the engine was getting very hot. When the engine is overheating on lap ten, it’s not going to do another 45 laps.

"It seemed ok, I was surprised there was damage but it is what it is."

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