Oscar Piastri crashes out of F1 Brazil GP sprint race in championship blow

Oscar Piastri and Franco Colapinto are out of the Brazil GP sprint race

Oscar Piastri has crashed out of the Brazil Grand Prix sprint race, causing a red flag and adding pressure to his championship fight.

On the seventh lap of the sprint, the Australian driver dipped a tyre onto the kerb, picked up water and, as a result, crashed into the barriers on the inside of Turn 3. Closely following Piastri, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine's Franco Colapinto were involved in the same incident as they both spun on the same point of the circuit.

Nico Hulkenberg managed to return to the pits and the team worked to repair the car during the red-flagged period. But for Piastri and Colapinto, their races were over.

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 analyst Martin Brundle commented on the crash: "He’s dragged a little bit of water up off the kerb. That’s pretty damaging for Oscar Piastri in his quest for the world championship.”

He added: “That was so unlucky for all three of them because you can’t actually say they were doing anything wrong. It’s those that went on the kerb that found the water. The water’s not on the racetrack. Everybody that dipped a tyre onto that kerb got sent to the barriers."

Heading into the race, Piastri was just one point behind Norris in the drivers' standings as the battle for the title intensifies. Norris, who started the sprint race from pole position, was leading at the time of the crash and will have to defend the position at the race restart.

Piastri has struggled in recent weeks but felt more positive after practice 1 and sprint qualifying in Brazil.

"A couple of big moments on my first lap, which wasn't ideal. Yeah, that was a bit of a shame, but ultimately I felt much happier today than the last couple of weeks," the McLaren driver explained to the media after sprint qualifying.

"Practice went very well. I think sprint quali changed a few things, which took a little bit of getting used to again. But yeah, ultimately pretty happy. Would have liked a little bit more, but we can definitely fight with what we've got and there's obviously a lot more points on Sunday."