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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to rival drivers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Nico 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 Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "unprofessional", adding: "Clearly Nico made contact with Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the possibility to race."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of expertise don't act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you don't damage competitors and continue."

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

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outside on the uphill approach to the turn.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the way out, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what occurred, I attempted to move inside on Lando and we were both very far from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

His teammate said: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inner side, but some cars came very quickly from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Fernando challenge on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar steered inward and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

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

The team principal said: "Overall displeased but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the event from there."

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to compete, race normally and capitalise on our capabilities."

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

Standings Impact

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of the Briton.

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

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

US GP

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

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