AUSTIN, Texas -- Title rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided at the start of Saturday's U.S. Grand Prix, and both drivers being out of the race handed Max Verstappen a golden opportunity to close in on the battling McLaren teammates.
As they rounded Turn 1, Piastri was tagged by Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg as he looked to cut back underneath Norris. The contact catapulted Piastri's car into Norris'.
Norris retired on the spot, and Piastri also retired -- a radio message suggested he had suspension damage from the incident.
Norris said he had "no idea," what happened when asked by reporters afterwards. "What else was I meant to do?
"I need to look at it a bit more. I just hit, I got taken out, so not a lot I could've done."
Meanwhile, Piastri said: "I've not seen the incident from the TV cameras. Obviously, I had a pretty good start -- we were both going pretty deep into Turn 1, and I tried to cut back and got hit, so...
"Not a great way to start the day, but I'd need to have another look."
Coming into the race, Piastri led Norris by 22 points, with Verstappen 63 points off the Australian.
Verstappen went on to win the sprint race, which is worth eight points, meaning he goes into the U.S. Grand Prix itself 55 points off the lead McLaren.
McLaren has repeatedly stressed that Verstappen is still a wild-card outsider in the championship fight.