🔗 Share this article

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

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his team-mate after hitting the Nico Hulkenberg.

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

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 "unprofessional", adding: "Obviously Nico made contact with Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Andrea Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we were denied the chance to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of experience don't act with necessary care. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

McLaren indicated that Stella was referring to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

However, former champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and at first competed on the outer side on the uphill entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both very far from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Lando. A shame."

Norris said: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people behind just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

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

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

"Piastri steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the undercut and exit of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Fernando challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to provide room for him and then Oscar steered inward and the collision was inevitable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the incident with their drivers but only after the event weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

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

"We are in a competitive place from our performance point of view so I trust we have the possibility to compete, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The race was taken by the Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the maths show - we missed out on eight points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive vehicle and two strong racers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

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

United States Grand Prix

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

Real-time analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on sports website and app