Max Verstappen's late-season title charge has gathered further pace as he won the Sprint at the United States Grand Prix after McLaren team-mates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris collided amid chaotic scenes at the first corner.
As Verstappen led comfortably away from pole at the Circuit of the Americas, Piastri challenged Norris for second place on the uphill run to the wide first turn.
With Norris holding the preferred inside line, Piastri yielded as they entered the braking zone but then as he cut back underneath the sister car to try and attack on the corner exit, disaster struck.
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Piastri collided with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber on his inside with the contact pitching the championship leader's car up onto two wheels and sending him straight into the luckless Norris, causing Sprint-ending damage to both McLarens.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, pinched on the extreme inside of the corner as Hulkenberg's Sauber attempted to avoid Piastri, also retired with damage.
The collision comes two weeks after the McLaren title rivals made contact on the first lap of the Singapore Grand Prix, when Norris went into Piastri's front wheel after the Briton had tagged Verstappen ahead of him.
Although both papaya cars continued then, and neither the team nor the stewards took any in-race action, Norris subsequently revealed on Thursday in Austin that the team had imposed unspecified 'repercussions' on him after ultimately finding the Briton at fault in their post-race review.
With his two drivers ahead of him in the championship wiped out immediately, the in-form Verstappen cashed in for Sprint victory - his third in succession in Austin.
The Red Bull driver did so after withstanding a fierce initial challenge from Mercedes' George Russell when racing action resumed after five laps behind the Safety Car.
Russell made a bold lunge for the lead on the brakes into Turn 12 on the seventh lap but could not get his Mercedes slowed down in time, running off track and forcing Verstappen wide too.
Verstappen was first back onto the track to stay in the lead and then steadily pulled away from Russell from there to ensure he took the full eight points for the victory out of Piastri's championship lead.
The reigning four-time champion is now 55 points back on the championship summit having been a mammoth 104 behind just four races ago. Piastri's overall lead remains 22 over Norris with the big points on offer in Sunday's Grand Prix to come.
"That's livened up the championship. There's no doubt about that," declared Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle with main qualifying next up on Saturday night at 10pm.
Williams' Carlos Sainz profited from the first-corner carnage to move up to third from seventh on the grid and stayed there ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who overtook Charles Leclerc for fourth after dropping behind his team-mate amid the chaotic start.
The first-corner carnage certainly proved good news for Ferrari, who had struggled to eighth and 10th positions on the grid, but it remains to be seen whether their competitiveness will improve in main qualifying.
The race finished behind the Safety Car after a collision at the first corner between Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Haas' Esteban Ocon when the former locked up and slammed into the side of the Frenchman's car.
Stroll was later handed a five-place gird penalty for the Grand Prix by stewards.
Alex Albon was sixth in the second Williams ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tusnoda, who recovered well from his early Sprint Qualifying exit and then driving over debris at the first turn, in seventh and Kimi Antonelli in eighth.
Oliver Bearman finished ahead of Antonelli on the road but the Haas driver was handed a 10-second penalty after stewards ruled the Briton had left the track and gained an advantage when the Mercedes went for an overtake at Turn 12.
With the field crossing the line nose to tail under Safety Car conditions, Bearman dropped to 15th and the final classified finisher.
McLaren, Aston Martin, Sauber and Haas all face busy builds to full United States Grand Prix qualifying at 10pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports Main Event, to repair their respective cars after an unusually accident-heavy Sprint.
What was said after McLaren drivers' latest collision?
Lando Norris: "I got hit. What else was I meant to do?
"I need to look at it a bit more. I just got hit, I got taken out, so not a lot I could have done."
Oscar Piastri: "I've not seen the incident from the TV cameras, but obviously I had a pretty good start, we both went pretty deep into Turn 1 and I tried to cut back, and got a hit, so obviously not a great way to start the day.
"I need to have another look."
Team principal Andrea Stella: "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 more prudence - go to the first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors then carry on.
"Overall, disappointed but we take it on the chin. We will focus on repairing the cars and there's a lot to do."
Sky Sports F1's Jenson Button: "The issue is Oscar has seen Lando go deep, so he goes 'right I'm going to slow the car down, switch back and get a good exit which is fine in a race situation when you are racing one other car.
"But when you have 17 cars braking as late as they can into Turn 1, it never works because you end up with a car in your side."
Sky Sports F1's Danica Patrick: "This is what can happen sometimes if you are trying to stay away from each other so much and doing something outside of your norm of possibly racing around the outside and going at it that way.
"Inside the cockpit, it's such a different view from what we see but everyone is racing into the first corner with as much speed as possible and he slowed up any extra.
"It was avoidable. He could have fallen in line behind Lando and carried on. Instead, he got invited into that gap. It was a bad judgement call."
Sky Sports F1's live United States GP schedule
Saturday October 18
9pm: United States GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: UNITED STATES GP QUALIFYING*
12am (Sunday morning): Ted's Qualifying Notebook*
Sunday October 19
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: United States GP build-up*
8pm: THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: United States GP reaction
11pm: Ted's Notebook
*also live on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in North America for the United States Grand Prix in Austin this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime
(c) Sky Sports 2025: United States GP Sprint: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri crash out in McLaren start disaster as Max Verstappen cashes in to win
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