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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to competitors for the collision between Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by 22 points, made contact with his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision forced out both team drivers from the event, along with the Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to broadcasters that some of the driving at the front was "amateur hour", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, make sure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

The team clarified that Stella was pointing to both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he believed Piastri had not demonstrated enough awareness of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outside on the uphill approach to the turn.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what happened, I attempted to cut back on Lando and we were both very far from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inner side, 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 best qualifying fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

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

"I had Alonso challenge 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 contact was unavoidable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will review the incident with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on Saturday.

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

"Our team holds a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, compete fairly and capitalise on our capabilities."

"The points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more care would be good for everyone."

Championship Implications

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

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

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the championship one event at a time.

US GP

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

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