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

Piastri, leading his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, bounced into his team-mate after colliding with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The incident eliminated both McLaren drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's CEO, commented to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "inexperienced", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg made contact with Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

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

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience don't act with appropriate caution. Enter the first corner, ensure you don't damage other drivers and carry on."

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

Contrasting Views on the Crash

However, 1996 world champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

Piastri had a stronger launch than Norris and initially challenged on the outside on the uphill entry to the corner.

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a run on Norris on the way out, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, I tried to cut back 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 said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back just being a bit reckless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inner side, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the inside line 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 leave space for him and then Piastri turned in and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their racers but only after the race weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on repairing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

"Our team holds a strong position from our competitiveness 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 don't want to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A bit more care would be good for all involved."

Standings Impact

The race was taken 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 behind of Norris.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers says - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two skilled racers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

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

US GP

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

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