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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella attributed rival drivers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the championship by 22 points, made contact with his team-mate after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident took both McLaren drivers out of the race, along with the Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", remarking: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

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

The team indicated that the team principal was mentioning both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and initially challenged on the outside on the ascending approach to the corner.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what occurred, I tried to cut back on Lando and we were both very far from the apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Norris. A shame."

Norris commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back events unfolded and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people behind just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the center."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

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

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was unavoidable."

Aftermath and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both cars needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general displeased but we accept it, we are now focusing on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

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

"Championship points are the most important thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more prudence would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and 33 behind of Norris.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the numbers show - we lost eight points with both racers, 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 title race race by race.

US GP

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

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