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McLaren F1 team bosses Brown and Andrea Stella attributed opposing racers for the incident between Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the championship by twenty-two points, crashed into his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "inexperienced", stating: "Obviously Nico drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we were denied the opportunity to compete."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of experience don't act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, ensure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

McLaren indicated that the team principal was mentioning both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

However, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill approach to the turn.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to make contact with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

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

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us things happened and I just got unlucky and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people behind just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had earned a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from yesterday in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso attack on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the collision was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will analyze the incident with their racers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall displeased but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on fixing the vehicles, 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 trust we have the possibility to compete, compete fairly and capitalise on our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The sprint event was won by the Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of the Briton.

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

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

United States Grand Prix

17-19 October, with race from 20:00 BST on the final day

Real-time analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app