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McLaren F1 team executives Brown and Andrea Stella blamed opposing racers for the incident between Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the championship by twenty-two points, bounced into his team-mate after hitting the Nico Hulkenberg.

The crash forced out both team drivers out of the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

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

The team team principal Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are displeased that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren clarified that Stella was pointing to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

However, former champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought the Australian had not demonstrated enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and at first competed on the outside on the uphill entry to the corner.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a run on Norris on the way out, only to make contact with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what occurred, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both very far from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Norris. A shame."

Norris said: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to review a bit more carefully. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inside, but some cars came very fast from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and exit of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando attack on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was inevitable."

Aftermath and Team Response

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

Stella said: "Overall displeased but we accept it, 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 competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to compete, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

"The points are the key thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more care would be good for all involved."

Championship Implications

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 behind of Norris.

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

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching 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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