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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Brown and Stella blamed competitors for the incident between Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, crashed into his team-mate after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "inexperienced", stating: "Obviously Nico drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to race."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience don't act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a better start than the Briton and initially competed on the outside on the ascending approach to the corner.

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, 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 Lando. A shame."

Norris commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. 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 thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

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

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from the previous day in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Oscar turned in pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

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

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the event from there."

"We are in a competitive place from our performance point of view so I trust we have the possibility to compete, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

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

Championship Implications

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

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - we lost eight points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the title race race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

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