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McLaren Formula 1 executives Brown and Andrea Stella attributed rival drivers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the standings by 22 points, bounced into his team-mate after colliding with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision eliminated both team drivers from the event, along with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the driving at the start was "unprofessional", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg 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 didn't have the possibility to compete."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with justful prudence. Enter the initial turn, ensure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

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

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

However, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not demonstrated enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

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

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

Racer Comments After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

Norris said: "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 don't know. I need to review 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 correct position on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Oscar steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

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

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will review the incident with their drivers but only after the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now focusing on repairing the cars, 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, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

"The points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A bit more care would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was won by the Verstappen, who closed in on both team racers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and 33 adrift of Norris.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - 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 normal racing."

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

US GP

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

Real-time analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on sports website and mobile application