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McLaren Formula 1 leaders Zak Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to competitors for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

Piastri, leading Norris in the championship by 22 points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after colliding with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision took both team drivers from the event, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "inexperienced", adding: "Clearly Nico hit Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the possibility to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with necessary care. Go to the initial turn, make sure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

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

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an F1 race when he decided to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

Piastri had a better start than Norris and at first challenged on the outer side on the ascending entry to the corner.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

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

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to review a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit careless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some cars came very fast from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Oscar steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of the first corner but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso attack on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to provide room for him and then Oscar turned in and the collision was inevitable."

Aftermath and Team Response

McLaren will analyze the crash with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both cars needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now focusing on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the event from there."

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

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A little more care would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

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

Stella said: "The implication is what the numbers show - we missed out on eight championship points with both racers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two skilled racers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

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

United States Grand Prix

October 17-19, with race from 20:00 BST on Sunday

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