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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Stella pointed to rival drivers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, leading Norris in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The crash took both McLaren drivers from the event, along with the Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", stating: "Obviously Nico made contact with Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we didn't have the possibility to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, make sure you don't damage other drivers and continue."

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

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, former champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

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

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a run on Norris on the way out, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

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

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to review a bit more carefully. 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 inner side, but some cars came very fast from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a season-best fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and exit of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the incident with their racers but not until the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on repairing 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 competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to race, race normally and capitalise on our capabilities."

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

Standings Impact

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

The team boss said: "The implication is what the maths show - we lost eight championship points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the championship one event at a time.

United States Grand Prix

October 17-19, with race from 20:00 BST on Sunday

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