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McLaren F1 team executives Brown and Stella attributed competitors for the crash between Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

The Australian driver, leading Norris in the standings by 22 points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with Sauber's Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with appropriate caution. Enter the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

The team clarified that Stella 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 demonstrated enough awareness of the risks of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to pass Norris.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and initially competed on the outside on the ascending entry to the turn.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a run on his teammate on the way out, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what occurred, I attempted to cut back on Norris and we were both quite distant from the apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Norris. A shame."

His teammate commented: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inner side, 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 qualified a season-best fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from yesterday in the trash. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty forcefully 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 wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

The team will analyze the crash with their drivers but only after the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on Saturday.

Stella 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 resume the weekend from there."

"Our team holds a strong position from our performance point of view so I hope we have the possibility to compete, compete fairly and capitalise on our capabilities."

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

Standings Impact

The sprint event was taken by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and thirty-three adrift of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight points with both racers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong racers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

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

United States Grand Prix

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

Real-time analysis on sports radio, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on sports website and app