F1 boss Zak Brown slams 'amateur hour driving' after double McLaren DNF

United States Grand Prix

Zak Brown slams 'amateur hour driving' after double McLaren DNF

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown was not impressed after a double DNF at COTA

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Saturday 18 October 2025 20:28

McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown has slammed the 'amateur hour driving' on show at this weekend's United States Grand Prix after a double DNF for his driver lineup.

Saturday's sprint race at COTA was described as a 'nightmare' scenario for McLaren after both of their drivers were forced to retire thanks to an unfortunate incident.

After lights out in the 19-lap race, Oscar Piastri got tangled up with Nico Hulkenberg, but the German racer was able to continue with the race whilst Piastri was forced to retire due to suspension damage.

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The contact between the McLaren and the Sauber F1 car sent the championship leader spinning into his team-mate Lando Norris, who was also ruled out on the first lap.

Sky F1 legend Martin Brundle noted that the first lap was unlucky, but McLaren CEO Zak Brown felt the blame should be handed out to one of his competitors.

McLaren suffer after messy US GP sprint

Speaking after the incident which left Fernando Alonso with a puncture and McLaren with two drivers incapable of picking up points, Brown said: "That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there.

"That's some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, (they) wacked out two guys.

"I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear tyre.

"It looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully it's relatively easy to fix."

Regardless of whether Saturday's clash impacts Piastri and Norris for the rest of the weekend, the drivers' title race has now been blown wide open after Verstappen picked up eight points with another sprint race victory.

Thanks to a double point-less outing for the top two in the championship, the Dutchman managed to cut the gap to Norris to 33 points and the gap to standings leader Piastri to 55.

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