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McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella attributed opposing racers for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, made contact with his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the driving at the start was "inexperienced", remarking: "Obviously Nico drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

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

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, make sure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

McLaren indicated that the team principal was mentioning both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not demonstrated enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to cut back to try to pass Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than the Briton and initially challenged on the outside on the ascending entry to the corner.

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

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what occurred, 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 said: "I just was struck, 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 review a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers behind 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 fast from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

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

"Oscar turned in pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando challenge on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will review the crash with their drivers but only after the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "In general 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 weekend from there."

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

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

Championship Implications

The race was won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of Norris.

Stella said: "The implication is what the maths says - we lost eight points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive vehicle and two skilled racers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

The Red Bull driver said he was taking the title race race by race.

US GP

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

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; real-time updates on BBC Sport website and app