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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to opposing racers for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident took both team drivers out of the event, along with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", stating: "Obviously Nico made contact with Oscar and he had no reason 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 drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with appropriate caution. Go to the first corner, make sure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

McLaren indicated that Stella was mentioning both the Sauber driver and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and at first challenged on the outer side on the ascending approach to the turn.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the way out, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments 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 very far from the apex and then were struck and it sent me into Lando. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people behind just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the right place on the inside, but some cars came very fast from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the center."

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

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their racers but only after the event weekend. Both cars needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall displeased 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 resume the weekend from there."

"Our team holds a strong position from our performance point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to compete, race normally and utilize our capabilities."

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just prudence. A bit more care would be good for everyone."

Championship Implications

The sprint event was won by the Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of Norris.

Stella said: "The implication is what the maths show - we lost eight championship points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two strong racers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

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

US GP

17-19 October, with main event from 8 PM BST on Sunday

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