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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to competitors for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, leading Norris in the standings by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident eliminated both team drivers from the race, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Crash

Brown, the team's CEO, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "inexperienced", remarking: "Obviously Nico hit Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with appropriate caution. Go to the initial turn, make sure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

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

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he chose to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a stronger launch than the Briton and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill approach to the corner.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

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

Norris said: "I just got hit, 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 look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers behind just being a bit careless 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 cars came very quickly from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the center."

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

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"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 collision was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their racers but only after 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 trust we have the possibility to race, compete fairly and utilize our performance."

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

Standings Impact

The race was taken by Red Bull's 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.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the maths show - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two strong drivers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

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

US GP

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

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