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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Stella pointed to opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the US GP sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision eliminated both McLaren drivers out of the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, stated to broadcasters that some of the driving at the start was "unprofessional", stating: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 boss Stella commented: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the chance to race."

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

McLaren suggested that the team principal was pointing to both the Sauber driver and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a better start than the Briton and at first competed on the outer side on the uphill approach to the turn.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on his teammate on the exit, only to make contact with Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what happened, I tried to move inside on Norris and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

Norris commented: "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 look a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought I was in the right place 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 qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

"Piastri 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 inside and I was unable to see him any more. I aimed to provide room for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

McLaren will review the crash with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella 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 strong position from our performance point of view so I hope we have the possibility to race, compete fairly and utilize our performance."

"The points are the most important thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just prudence. A bit more care would be beneficial for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and 33 adrift of the Briton.

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

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the championship one event at a time.

US GP

October 17-19, with race from 8 PM BST on Sunday

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