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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to competitors for the collision between Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

The Australian driver, leading Norris in the standings by 22 points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision took both team drivers out of the event, along with the Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

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

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and carry on."

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

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought 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 pass Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than the Briton and at first challenged on the outside on the uphill entry to the corner.

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

Racer Comments After the Incident

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

His teammate commented: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just got unlucky and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to review a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inside, but some cars came very fast from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from yesterday in the bin. Just messy."

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One 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 Piastri turned in and the collision was unavoidable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

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

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 resume 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."

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just prudence. A little more care would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of Norris.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the maths says - we missed out on eight points with both racers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

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

United States Grand Prix

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

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