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McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella blamed opposing racers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

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

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

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "unprofessional", remarking: "Obviously Nico drove into Piastri 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 didn't have the possibility to compete."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of experience don't act with justful prudence. Enter the first corner, make sure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

The team indicated that the team principal was mentioning both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought Piastri had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he chose to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

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

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

Racer Comments After the Collision

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 corner apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Norris. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us events unfolded and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to review 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 cars came very quickly from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had earned a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to provide room for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Aftermath and Team Response

McLaren will review the crash with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

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

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

"Championship points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A little more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the numbers says - we missed out on eight points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable car and two strong drivers. We anticipate just some standard competition."

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

US GP

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

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