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

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the championship by 22 points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Hulkenberg.

The collision took both team drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "inexperienced", remarking: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella stated: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Enter the initial turn, ensure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

McLaren indicated that Stella was pointing to both the Sauber driver and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

However, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to cut back to try to pass Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than the Briton and at first challenged on the outside on the uphill approach to the corner.

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to make contact with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, I attempted to cut back on Lando and we were both quite distant from the apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Norris. A shame."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people further back just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inside, but some cars came very fast from the outside 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 yesterday in the trash. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and exit of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando challenge on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

The team will review the crash with their racers but only after the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "In general displeased but we accept it, we are now focusing on repairing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

"We are in a strong position from our performance point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to compete, compete fairly and utilize 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 the Verstappen, who closed in on both team racers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of Norris.

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

Verstappen said he was taking the title race race by race.

US GP

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

Real-time analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; real-time updates on BBC Sport website and app