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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Zak Brown and Stella pointed to rival drivers for the incident between Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision took both McLaren drivers out of the event, along with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", remarking: "Obviously Nico made contact with Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are displeased that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with necessary care. Go to the first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors and continue."

McLaren clarified that Stella was referring to both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not demonstrated enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a stronger launch than the Briton and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill entry to the corner.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I did not see what happened, I attempted to cut back on Lando and we were both quite distant from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. Unfortunate."

His teammate said: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us events unfolded and I just got unlucky and was struck because of it. I don't know. I need to review a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some vehicles came very fast from the outside switching back and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from yesterday in the bin. Just messy."

"Piastri steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and exit of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando attack on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

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

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on fixing the vehicles, 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 trust we have the opportunity to compete, compete fairly and utilize our performance."

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

Standings Impact

The sprint event was taken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of Norris.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight championship points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two strong drivers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

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

US GP

October 17-19, with race from 20:00 BST on the final day

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