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McLaren F1 team bosses Zak Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to opposing racers for the collision between Piastri and Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident took both McLaren drivers out of the event, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's CEO, stated to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "amateur hour", remarking: "Clearly Hulkenberg drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are displeased that we were denied the possibility to race."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with appropriate caution. Go to the first corner, ensure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was referring to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and initially competed on the outer side on the ascending entry to the corner.

But he then moved inside in an effort to get a run on Norris on the way out, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what happened, I tried to cut back on Lando and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. 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 thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit reckless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought 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 middle."

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

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

"I had Fernando attack on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to provide room for him and then Oscar steered inward and the collision was unavoidable."

Aftermath and Team Response

The team will review the crash with their racers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall 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."

"Our team holds a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the possibility to race, race normally and utilize our performance."

"The points are the key thing, I don't want to talk about mal-intent, just prudence. A bit more prudence would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and thirty-three behind of Norris.

Stella said: "The implication is what the numbers show - we lost eight championship 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 championship race by race.

US GP

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

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