You might carve the Papaya Rules into stone tablets, but no one has ever managed to navigate them through the notorious first corner at the Circuit of the Americas. Such was the scene at the US Grand Prix sprint race in Austin today, where an unexpected twist unfolded right at the start.

The action kicked off with Oscar Piastri, who found himself entangled in an unfortunate incident involving his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris. As Piastri held his third-place position, he inadvertently made contact with Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber, which was running in fourth. This collision sent Hulkenberg onto two wheels and straight into Norris’s McLaren, which was in second place.

Piastri’s move to the left was not intended to take out any competitors, yet it proved to be a risky decision. It was akin to merging into a busy motorway lane with a convoy of 17 cars barreling down behind you.

The aftermath was dramatic: Norris’s left-rear wheel detached and careened down the track, while Piastri’s vehicle limped along briefly before being deemed undriveable due to suspension damage. With both cars out of the race, McLaren’s internal ‘Papaya Rules’—which expressly forbid contact between their drivers—were once again flouted.

Norris’s left-rear wheel came tumbling off and went bouncing down the track. Piastri hobbled on a little before he was told his suspension was shot. Both, clearly, were out of the race – the in-house ‘Papaya Rules’, which dictate no contact between the two McLaren men, breached again.

And so the debate goes on about how the championship-leading pair race, following Singapore a fortnight ago, when they hit each other, Norris marginally to blame then, as Piastri was yesterday. Norris was told there would be ‘consequences’ for his error.

Lando Norris’ McLaren spins out as debris flies after a wreck with teammate Oscar Piastri

Norris (white suit) walks away from his car after crashing at the first corner in Austin, Texas

Cars piled up on a blind first corner with numerous traps that drivers have to navigate

That was very harsh: he had tried to find a way through on the inside and clipped the back of Max Verstappen and was pinged into Piastri, again on lap one. He said anyone who didn’t understand that his chance was legitimate, if not perfectly executed, should not be in Formula One. It was a fair point.

As for the nature of the incident, another team’s car ricocheting into a McLaren – ring any bells today, anyone?

No wonder McLaren’s top two media people were huddled together in the hospitality area only moments later. Luca Collajani , their chief spokesman, insisted to Daily Mail Sport that Piastri was in the clear, that he was 0.0000000000000000000001 culpable, if at all. But how could Hulkenberg be to blame? How was he to vanish from the spot of asphalt he inhabited?

But the McLaren spinners had little choice but to maintain their ludicrous protestations because chief executive Zak Brown had immediately exonerated Piastri by telling Sky emphatically during the race: ‘That was terrible. Neither of our drivers is to blame there.

‘That’s some amateur-hour driving by (other) drivers up there at the front. They whacked out two guys.

‘I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was. He went into his left-rear tyre.

‘It looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully it’s relatively easy to fix (for qualifying for today’s grand prix proper which was due to take place in Austin before we went to print).’

Well, as I left McLaren hospitality, the Sky team were in the paddock live on air, including 2009 world champion Jenson Button. He and his pals were in unanimous agreement that Piastri had made the slight, but undeniable, blooper.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged from the chaos to win the sprint in Austin on Saturday 

Button said: ‘From what Zak has said so far, other drivers have driven into Oscar.

‘From a racing driver’s point of view, it was more on Oscar. Lando’s not even in this conversation. He was just unlucky to be there.’

Stella, the architect of Papaya Rules, and with Brown pivotal in leading the team to their second successive constructors’ title, has tried to keep harmony within the family. He is Mr Papaya Rules. His intentions are noble but a social experiment in Formula One’s bearpit.

His take: ‘Losing the points is the most important thing. I don’t talk about malintent, just prudence. A bit more prudence would have been good for everyone.’

Yes, Andrea, but whose prudence?

His comments, I am afraid, sound like a sidestep to me, a shoulder drop.

There is not much time to find answers with today’s showpiece in Texas coming. When that same first bend will be as menacing as ever, and clouded minds no clearer.

The DNF was particularly hard for Norris, who remains 22 points off Piastri.

Chief executive Zak Brown exonerated Piastri, claiming neither McLaren driver was to blame 

He said: ‘What else was I meant to do?

‘I just got hit, taken out, so not a lot I could have done.’

As for the defence case, Piastri said: ‘I’ve not seen the incident from the TV cameras, but obviously I had a pretty good start. We both went pretty deep into Turn One and I tried to cut back, and got a hit, so obviously not a great way to start the day.’

Russell took a decent second place for Mercedes, diving on Verstappen unsuccessfully before falling back a touch.

Carlos Sainz finished third for Williams, having started seventh, with Lewis Hamilton fourth for Ferrari and his team-mate Charles Leclerc fifth. All just numbers in a bigger and more gripping story.