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McLaren Formula 1 executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella blamed rival drivers for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the standings by 22 points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision eliminated both McLaren drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "amateur hour", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

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

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was pointing to both the Sauber driver and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

However, former champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he believed Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a stronger launch than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the uphill approach to the turn.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the way out, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what occurred, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Norris. A shame."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back events unfolded 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 reckless and we are the result of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inner side, but some cars came very fast from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando challenge on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to provide room for him and then Oscar turned in and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both cars needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall displeased but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

"Our team holds a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the possibility to race, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

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

Standings Impact

The race was won by the Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of the Briton.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers show - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was approaching the championship race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app