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

Piastri, leading his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting Sauber's Hulkenberg.

The collision forced out both team drivers out of the event, along with the Fernando Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's CEO, told Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "inexperienced", remarking: "Clearly Nico made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella added: "The reaction is that we are displeased 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 first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors and continue."

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

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and initially competed on the outer side on the uphill entry to the turn.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Collision

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

Norris commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us 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 drivers behind just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inside, but some cars came very quickly from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Oscar steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

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

Aftermath and Team Response

The team will analyze the crash with their racers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "Overall 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 competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

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

Standings Impact

The race was won by the Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and 33 behind of the Briton.

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

Verstappen said he was taking the championship one event at a time.

US GP

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

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