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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to rival drivers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint event.

The Australian driver, ahead of Norris in the championship by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after colliding with Sauber's Hulkenberg.

The crash eliminated both McLaren drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg drove into Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the possibility to race."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you avoid harming other drivers and carry on."

The team indicated that Stella was referring to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and at first competed on the outer side on the ascending entry to the turn.

But he then moved inside in an effort to get a run on his teammate on the exit, only to make contact with the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Collision

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what occurred, I attempted to cut back on Norris and we were both very far from the apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Norris. A shame."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some vehicles came very fast from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the center."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a best qualifying fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was unavoidable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will review the incident with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general disappointed but we accept it, we are now concentrating on fixing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the event from there."

"Our team holds a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the possibility to race, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A little more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was taken by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of the Briton.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the maths show - we lost eight points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive vehicle and two strong drivers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

The Red Bull driver said he was taking the championship one event at a time.

United States Grand Prix

October 17-19, with main event from 20:00 BST on Sunday

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