Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli has suggested a possible reason for F1 championship contender Oscar Piastri’s crash during the semi-wet Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint Race. The rookie highlighted race leader Lando Norris’s mistake in the same turn just before, which he believed led to a lack of grip for the drivers behind.
The Sprint Race began with the top four positions unchanged: pole-sitter Lando Norris led the way, followed by Antonelli in P2, Oscar Piastri in P3, and George Russell in P4. Lewis Hamilton was one of the biggest gainers into Turn 1, moving up from P11 to P8, while Max Verstappen gained a position by overtaking Fernando Alonso for P5.
Aside from the overtakes and contact between Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman before Turn 1 on lap 1, there was little significant action early on. However, disaster struck on lap 6 of 24 when three drivers lost control in the damp conditions at the same corner.
Oscar Piastri was the first to go off. The McLaren driver, running in P3, took too much kerb at the left-hander Turn 3, lost the rear of his MCL39, and spun into the barriers. Surprisingly, two more drivers—Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto—experienced the same fate and ended up in the barriers behind Piastri.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was positioned between the two McLaren drivers, learned about the incident from his race engineer after the safety car was deployed. “So maybe low grip through Turn 3 had three cars go off track,” said Mercedes race engineer Peter Bonnington.
In response, Antonelli pointed out Lando Norris’ error at Turn 3. Norris had gone a bit too deep on the kerb, spraying water onto the racing line for the drivers behind. “Norris took a lot of kerb, and a lot of water went on line,” Antonelli remarked.
This marks the second Sprint Race in a row where Oscar Piastri has failed to finish. His previous DNF occurred during the United States GP Sprint, where he collided with Norris on lap 1, prematurely ending both their races.
### Oscar Piastri Suffers a Major Blow in the F1 Championship Battle
Oscar Piastri lost the championship lead to Lando Norris after the Mexico GP, which Norris won dominantly. Entering the Brazilian GP weekend, Piastri trailed Norris by just one point. However, after Norris secured victory in the Sprint Race—earning eight points—the gap widened to nine points.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, who finished P4 in the Sprint Race, earned five points, reducing his deficit to Piastri from 35 points to 30. At one stage this season, Piastri held a commanding 104-point lead over the Red Bull driver.
Since the summer break, Piastri’s formidable consistency has diminished. His last podium finish was two months ago, and he has struggled to maintain his challenge.
The action in São Paulo will continue with the qualifying session for the feature race scheduled for 2 pm ET today. Fans will be eager to see if Piastri can recover and keep his championship hopes alive.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/news-kimi-antonelli-pinpoints-possible-reason-behind-oscar-piastri-s-disastrous-crash-f1-brazilian-gp-sprint
