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McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to rival drivers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint event.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, told broadcasters that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", stating: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

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

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Enter the initial turn, ensure you avoid harming competitors and carry on."

McLaren clarified that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and at first competed on the outer side on the ascending approach to the turn.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the way out, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what occurred, I attempted to move inside on Norris and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. Unfortunate."

Norris said: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Behind us events unfolded and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to review a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

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

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from yesterday in the trash. Just messy."

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

"I had Fernando challenge on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

The team will review the crash with their drivers but only after the race weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on fixing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I trust 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 little more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The race was won by the Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the numbers show - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two skilled drivers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

Verstappen said he was approaching the championship race by race.

US GP

October 17-19, with main event from 8 PM BST on the final day

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