Oscar Piastri felt he was simply “hard racing” with Yuki Tsunoda who was left seething following their collision during the Mexico City Grand Prix.
McLaren driver Piastri produced a vigorous defence of his seventh position on lap 48 and again a lap later against AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The initial skirmish saw them bang wheels twice, with Piastri just managing to collect his car from spinning out of Turn 1 and into Turn 2.
On the following lap, Tsunoda again attempted to pass Piastri around the outside going into the first corner but this time the contact was heavier between the front left of the Australian’s MCL60 and Tsunoda’s AT04, sending the Japanese into a spin into the Turn 1 run-off.
“He chopped across,” said Piastri, who went on to finish eighth, whilst Tsunoda was four places further back as the incident ultimately compromised his race.
Tsunoda fumed over the radio as he made his way back on track, using an expletive to express his frustration. To add to his ire, the stewards investigated both incidents but took no action.
Asked to discuss the incident post-race, a clearly angry Tsunoda said: “I don’t want to comment about these things. I already commented enough when I was driving!
“We were showing a good performance and it’s such a shame I ended up like that.”
Pointed out to Tsunoda that the stewards took no action, he tersely replied: “As I expected.”
As to whether he could have been more patient given his pace advantage over Piastri, he remarked: “I felt the tyres were starting to struggle so I wanted to overtake as soon as possible.”
Piastri’s take on what unfolded was simple as he declared: “Some big moves, I think hard racing.
“The one at the end (on lap 49), I’m not really sure what happened. I was just braking and then we touched wheels. Nothing really more than that.”
There was, however, damage to the car which resulted in him allowing by charging team-mate Lando Norris, who went on to secure fifth position after starting from 17th.
“I had some damage at that point,” said Piastri. “There were a few broken things. It’s visible.
“But Lando was very quick compared to everyone, so it didn’t make any sense to try and battle each other.
“In the end, it meant Lando got another two spots. It worked out well for the team.”
Although Piastri managed up four points, which he acknowledged was ‘better than nothing’, he naturally could not be thrilled.
“With the pace we have in our car now I don’t really think there’s that much to brag about,” said Piastri. “Still always looking for more.
“I just struggled a bit in certain parts and it made life much more difficult. I think the pace with the cars around was similar, just Lando was just very, very strong in the last stint and was able to come up quick.”
As with the track at Mexico City, Piastri now heads to another venue next weekend he has yet to drive in Interlagos which stages the São Paulo GP.
“It’s going to be another new circuit, a sprint weekend, so I’m going to have to get up to speed quickly,” said Piastri.
“It looks like a cool circuit, an old-school circuit, so definitely something to prepare for and see what we can do. It will be interesting to see.”
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