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McLaren Formula 1 executives Zak Brown and Stella blamed rival drivers for the crash between Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint event.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after colliding with the Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

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

The team boss Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with necessary care. Enter the first corner, ensure you don't damage competitors and continue."

The team clarified that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, former champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the dangers 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 outer side on the uphill approach to the turn.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Incident

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

Norris said: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. 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 vehicles came very quickly from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the center."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Piastri turned in pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the collision was inevitable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the crash with their racers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "Overall displeased but we accept it, we are now concentrating on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

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

"The points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just prudence. A bit more prudence would be good for all involved."

Championship Implications

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and 33 adrift of the Briton.

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

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

US GP

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

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