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McLaren Formula 1 leaders Zak Brown and Andrea Stella attributed rival drivers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, bounced into his team-mate after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "unprofessional", adding: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella added: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

McLaren clarified that Stella was pointing to both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and initially competed on the outside on the ascending approach to the corner.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a run on his teammate on the way out, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

Piastri 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 Norris. Unfortunate."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back just being a bit reckless and we are the consequence of that."

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

Hulkenberg, who had earned a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Piastri steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to provide room for him and then Piastri turned in and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the incident with their racers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness 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 bad intentions, just caution. A little more care would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was won by the Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three behind of Norris.

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

Verstappen said he was approaching the title race one event at a time.

United States Grand Prix

October 17-19, with main event from 20:00 BST on the final day

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