Nico Hulkenberg issues one-word reply after Zak Brown U-turn on US GP 'amateur hour' rant

Nico Hulkenberg simply replied, "good", when informed that Zak Brown had walked back on his criticism after the opening-lap incident in Saturday's sprint race. The Sauber driver was caught up in a crash involving Fernando Alonso and both McLaren stars at Turn One in Austin.

Hulkenberg was sandwiched between Alonso on the inside and Oscar Piastri on the outside, and when the Australian attempted to pull off a cutback manoeuvre on his team-mate, Lando Norris, the gap disappeared and contact resulted.

The crash had significant ramifications for McLaren, with Max Verstappen moving within 55 points of Piastri with six Grands Prix still to play out. In the heat of the moment, Brown was furious, and in a pit-wall interview with Sky Sports F1, he lashed out at Hulkenberg.

"That was terrible," he fumed. "Neither of our drivers [are] to blame there. Some amateur hour driving. Some drivers up there at the front whacked our two guys. I want to see the replay again, but clearly Nico drove into Oscar, and he had no business being where he was."

However, after reviewing replay footage, the American executive changed his stance. "I've reviewed it, I think I've changed my view. I can't really put that on Nico," he confessed to Sky Sports F1. "In the heat of the moment, obviously pretty bothered by what I saw there, a lot of incidents in Turn One. But I don't think that's on Nico."

Hulkenberg was informed of Brown's backtrack, but didn't go into depth on his feelings on the matter. The veteran German has failed to score points in each of the last six Grand Prix events after clinching his first-ever career podium at Silverstone.

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"Good," he replied. "So we're all in agreement then. Still frustrating and disappointing, because the car was strong and if we had kept it there, we would have scored points. I'm pretty confident and sure about that, but yeah, would have, could have, should have."

Addressing the crash itself, he explained: "I didn't [have anywhere to go]. We were all obviously racing. Fernando was kind of taking the inside, but I knew he was diving in, but I didn't know where he was exactly.

"He was in a blind spot at that moment, so I wanted to leave some space for him. And then Oscar turned in very suddenly and aggressively. I wanted to cut back for the exit, but obviously, I was there. Unfortunate for all of us."