Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris's battle for the Formula 1 title took another turn on Saturday, local time, when the pair collided at the start of the sprint race at the US Grand Prix and retired.
Defending F1 world champion Max Verstappen won the sprint race for the third year in a row to close the gap on McLaren's title contenders.
Norris and Piastri's race though was over in a matter of metres.
Piastri made a far better start than Norris and moved to attack the Englishman with a move on the outside of the first corner.
The Australian then cut inside heading into the entry of the corner, but his left rear wheel clipped Nico Hulkenberg's front tyre.
That contact sent Piastri into the air and, as he bounced back on to the track a complete passenger and unable to do anything to avoid it, he collected Norris.
The safety car was deployed, with debris strewn across the track.
"Someone just wiped me out, I'm out," said Norris, a blameless victim who tried to continue but stopped on track.
"I need to look a bit more carefully," he said later.
"It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."
Piastri, 22 points clear of his teammate at the top of the standings, made it back to the pit lane but retired with a broken suspension.
"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," the Australian said.
A fortnight ago at the Singapore Grand Prix, Piastri was left furious after Norris made slight contact with him after bumping off Verstappen during a daring overtaking manoeuvre, describing the Englishman's move as being "unfair".
Norris told press in Austin this week that he had been "held accountable" for that incident by the team, without giving details.
That was despite Norris saying that anyone who would criticise him for making a move up the inside of a rival driver in a race — one that he pulled off — should "not be in Formula 1".
Both drivers were able to continue in Singapore, marking the Austin incident, however unfortunate, a significant escalation, making it fascinating to see how McLaren keeps a lid on the simmering rivalry between its drivers.
McLaren boss Zak Brown, for his part, was quick to say the incident was nobody's fault.
"That was terrible. Neither of our drivers to blame there," Brown told Sky Sports, although later told the broadcaster that he could not pin the blame on Hulkenberg.
However, Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, was far clearer at who he would pin the blame on.
"From a racing driver's point of view, it was more on Oscar," Button said.
"Lando's not even in this conversation. He was just unlucky to be there."
There was little luck about Verstappen's victory, the Dutchman leading from pole and, having avoided the first lap carnage, took a victory that reduced his gap at the top of the championship standings to 55 points.
He finished just ahead of Mercedes' George Russell with Carlos Sainz third for Williams and Lewis Hamilton fourth for Ferrari.
"The start was good, then of course there was the safety car because of the turn 1 incident," Verstappen said after the sort of perfect outcome he needs to have a chance of a fifth successive title.
"Then it took a few laps after the safety car to have a decent pace.
"I do think we need to be a bit better in race trim to be able to fight the McLarens because we haven't seen anything of them."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fifth after being overtaken by Hamilton, Alex Albon finished sixth for Williams, with Verstappen's teammate Yuki Tsunoda seventh and the final point going to Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes.
Haas's Oliver Bearman finished eighth on track but collected a 10-second penalty for going off and gaining an advantage.
Russell and Verstappen both ran wide as the Briton tried to pass at the midpoint of the race but the leader retained the position.
"I knew that was the only chance. I had to try it," Russell said over the radio after being complimented by team boss Toto Wolff on a "good send".
The 19-lap race finished behind the safety car after Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, whose teammate Fernando Alonso was caught up in the first-lap mayhem, and Haas's Esteban Ocon collided three laps from the end.
Piastri qualifies sixth for feature race, Norris second
In qualifying later in the day, Norris comfortably out-qualified his teammate, putting his McLaren on the front row of the grid behind Verstappen.
"It was a bit more of a struggle today, for whatever reason," Norris said.
"We were both struggling quite a bit more today just to put the laps in, and to be as fast as this guy [Verstappen].
"It could have been worse, but there was no chance of us going pole today.
"Don't get hit is my game plan for tomorrow."
Piastri could only manage sixth place, underlining what had been a tough day for the team, who had to race to get the cars fixed in time for qualifying.
Leclerc will start his Ferrari from third place, with Piastri having to get past him as well as Russell and Hamilton before he can challenge his teammate in Monday's race.
Reuters/ABC
