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McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella blamed competitors for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by twenty-two points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

The collision forced out both team drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, told Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "inexperienced", stating: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of expertise fail to act with appropriate caution. Enter the first corner, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was mentioning both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

However, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated enough awareness of the risks of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and initially challenged on the outside on the ascending entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a run on Norris on the exit, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to cut back on Lando and we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. Unfortunate."

His teammate said: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more drivers further back just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the right place on the inner side, but some cars came very fast from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will analyze the crash with their drivers but only after the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

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

"Our team holds a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the possibility to race, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

"Championship points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A bit more care would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and 33 behind of the Briton.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers show - we missed out on eight championship points with both racers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was approaching the championship race by race.

US GP

17-19 October, with race from 20:00 BST on the final day

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