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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Stella pointed to opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint event.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the championship by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Nico Hulkenberg.

The crash eliminated both McLaren drivers out of the event, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Crash

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, stated to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "inexperienced", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella added: "The reaction is that we are displeased that we didn't have the possibility to compete."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Enter the first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

McLaren suggested that the team principal was mentioning both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

However, 1996 world 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 F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to pass Norris.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the uphill approach to the corner.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a run on his teammate on the way out, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Collision

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to move inside on Norris and we were both very far from the corner apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Lando. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us events unfolded and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought I was in the right place on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a best qualifying fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

"Oscar 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 couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the incident with their racers but only after the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

The team principal said: "In general displeased but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume 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 utilize our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The race was taken by Red Bull's Verstappen, who closed in on both team racers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three behind of Norris.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive vehicle and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was taking the title race race by race.

US GP

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

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