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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Stella attributed opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Hulkenberg.

The incident took both McLaren drivers out of the event, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Incident

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

The team boss Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we didn't have the opportunity to race."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with necessary care. Enter the first corner, make sure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

The team indicated that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he chose to move inside to try to pass Norris.

Piastri had a better start than Norris and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill entry to the turn.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a run on his teammate on the way out, 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 cut back on Norris and we were both quite distant from the apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

His teammate said: "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 don't know. I need to review a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers behind just being a bit careless 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 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 earned a best qualifying fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Fernando attack on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the crash with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

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

"Our team holds a strong position from our performance point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to compete, race normally and utilize our capabilities."

"The points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A bit more prudence would be good for all involved."

Standings Impact

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

The team boss said: "The implication is what the numbers says - we lost eight points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong racers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

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

US GP

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

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