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McLaren Formula 1 executives Zak Brown and Stella attributed competitors for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

The Australian driver, leading his teammate in the championship by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of experience don't act with appropriate caution. Go to the first corner, ensure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

McLaren suggested that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

However, former champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first challenged on the outside on the ascending entry to the turn.

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

Racer Comments After the Collision

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I did not see what happened, I attempted to move inside on Lando and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Norris. A shame."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back 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 inner side, but some vehicles came very fast from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, 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 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 wanted to provide room for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general displeased but we accept it, we are now concentrating on fixing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

"We are in a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, race normally and utilize our performance."

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

Standings Impact

The race was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who closed in on both team racers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of Norris.

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

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

US GP

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

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