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McLaren F1 team executives Brown and Andrea Stella blamed competitors for the collision between Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his team-mate after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Crash

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella added: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you avoid harming competitors and carry on."

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

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he believed Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first challenged on the outer side on the uphill entry to the turn.

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

Driver Reactions After the Incident

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

Norris commented: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more drivers further back just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

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

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

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

"I had Fernando challenge 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 contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

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

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now concentrating on fixing 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 hope we have the opportunity to race, race normally and utilize our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The sprint event was taken by the Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and 33 behind of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight points with both racers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was taking the title race race by race.

US GP

17-19 October, with race from 20:00 BST on Sunday

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