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McLaren F1 team bosses Zak Brown and Andrea Stella blamed rival drivers for the crash between Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after colliding with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The crash took both McLaren drivers out of the race, along with the Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "inexperienced", adding: "Clearly Nico hit Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience don't act with appropriate caution. Enter the first corner, ensure you don't damage competitors and continue."

McLaren suggested that Stella was referring to both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not shown 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 stronger launch than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the ascending approach to the corner.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what occurred, I attempted to move inside on Norris and we were both very far from the corner apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Lando. Unfortunate."

Norris commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back events unfolded and I just got unlucky and was struck because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

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

"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 was unable to see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was unavoidable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall displeased but we accept it, we are now concentrating on repairing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the weekend from there."

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the possibility to compete, compete fairly and utilize our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The race was taken by the Verstappen, who gained ground 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 implication is what the numbers says - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two skilled racers. We anticipate just some standard competition."

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

US GP

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

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