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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Stella blamed competitors for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of Norris in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

The crash forced out both team drivers from the race, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, stated to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", remarking: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

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

The team clarified that Stella was referring to both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the risks of the first corner of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first challenged on the outside on the ascending approach to the turn.

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

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

His teammate said: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I don't know. I need to review a bit more thoroughly. It's more people behind just being a bit reckless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

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

"Piastri turned in pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso attack on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to provide room for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will review the incident with their drivers but only after the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall displeased but we accept it, we are now concentrating on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the weekend from there."

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

"The points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A bit more care would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of the Briton.

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

Verstappen said he was approaching the championship one event at a time.

United States Grand Prix

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

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