Jonathan Whitley: Zak Brown sent me his apologies

      Zak Brown apologized to the Sauber team and to Nico Hülkenberg, admitting he was wrong to blame the German driver for the pile-up at the first corner after the start of the sprint in Austin, when both McLaren cars retired within the first seconds of Saturday’s race. At the time, during the sprint, the executive director of McLaren Racing told Sky Sports that the incident was “the result of maneuvers by some drivers who acted like amateurs, taking both our guys off the track.” But then, after watching footage of the episode, Brown admitted his initial reaction was mistaken: “I think I changed my mind. I can’t blame Nico.” He also later personally apologized to Jonathan Wheatley, Sauber’s team principal, and to the team’s driver. Wheatley accepted his apology, because he understands that harsh words were spoken in the heat of the moment immediately after an incident that, of course, upset everyone at McLaren. “Shortly after it happened Zak sent me his apologies, and also personally apologized to Nico,” Wheatley told the Australian publication Speedcafe. “You know, passions run high in our sport, and I like that. When you’re fighting for a championship, and both your cars are out in the first corner, you can easily think someone else is to blame. You react with all the heat of the moment, and I think that’s what Zak did on Sky — he did it when his emotions were running high. But I’ve known Zak for a long time. He’s a true racer, like all of us, and later we sorted everything out.” A detailed analysis of that first-corner sprint episode indeed suggests it was more a racing incident, and it’s unlikely that responsibility should be placed on any one person. Even Piastri admitted: “I was far from the apex, and I think the cars behind me must have come quite deep into the corner — could I have done anything differently? Probably. But then two or three cars could have gone past me. I think it’s fair to call what happened a racing incident.” The stewards working at the American round agreed with that view and left the incident without consequences. Nevertheless, Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, promised that “when the time comes, we will conduct our analysis of the incident. It will be a collective discussion involving the team and the drivers, and we will draw the right conclusions.”