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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella blamed rival drivers for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint event.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident eliminated both McLaren drivers from the race, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team boss Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we were denied the possibility to compete."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience don't act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, make sure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

The team suggested that the team principal was mentioning both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

Piastri had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the ascending approach to the corner.

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

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to cut back on Lando and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Lando. Unfortunate."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to review a bit more carefully. It's more people behind just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inside, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from yesterday in the bin. Just chaotic."

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

"I had Fernando challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

The team will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on Saturday.

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

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the possibility to race, race normally and capitalise on our capabilities."

"Championship points are the most important thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just prudence. A little more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The race was won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and 33 behind of Norris.

Stella said: "The implication is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two skilled drivers. We anticipate just some standard competition."

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

US GP

October 17-19, with main event from 8 PM BST on the final day

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