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Piastri says it’s a clean slate at McLaren after USGP

Any repercussions for Lando Norris stemming from the Singapore Grand Prix have been removed by McLaren after the team concluded Oscar Piastri bore some responsibility for the crash at the start of the Sprint in the United States GP.

Norris had been cited for the way he raced his teammate in Singapore, with consequences identified that would have run to the end of this season. However, after the two drivers collided at the start of the Sprint at Circuit of The Americas as Piastri tried to pull off a switchback move at Turn 1 – leading to initial contact with Nico Hulkenberg – the Australian admits the situation has now evened out.

“We’ve gone through it again – normally we go through every weekend, regardless of what’s happened,” Piastri said. “I think there is a degree of responsibility from my side in the Sprint. And we’re starting this weekend with a clean slate for both of us. So, yeah, just going out and racing, and see who can come out on top.

“Yes, the consequences on Lando’s side have been removed. And yes, ultimately it was that [move at the start]. There were a lot of factors involved, but yes, ultimately, that’s what has been decided.”

Piastri insists the repercussions and outcomes from different incidents do not add any extra pressure onto the McLaren drivers, and similarly he is not letting Max Verstappen’s recent gains impact his approach to racing in the closing stages of the season.

“Obviously the gap has shrunk a little bit in the last few races, but for me the focus has always been on trying to go as fast as I can and get the most out of every weekend,” Piastri said. “Which in some of the weekends we have, in some of them we definitely haven’t. That’s really all I’m focused on and I think if I do a good enough job of getting on top of that every weekend, then it doesn’t really matter what the picture looks like.

“Both [leading and chasing] have their positives and negatives. Obviously everyone likes a good underdog story or trying to come back is sometimes a bit easier, but I’d rather have the championship lead than being in any other spot.

“I’ve always kind of said I enjoy that because it normally means you’re doing something right. I think through the course of the season we have done a lot of things right and there’s some things that we can still do even better.”