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McLaren Formula 1 executives Zak Brown and Stella pointed to competitors for the incident between Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

The Australian driver, leading his teammate in the championship by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after colliding with the Hulkenberg.

The incident took both McLaren drivers out of the event, along with the Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, stated to broadcasters that some of the driving at the start was "inexperienced", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to compete."

"It's surprising that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with appropriate caution. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

The team clarified that the team principal was pointing to both the Sauber driver and Alonso.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

However, former champion Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated 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 better start than Norris and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill approach to the corner.

However he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Collision

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to cut back on Norris and we were both very far from the apex and then were struck and it sent me into Lando. A shame."

His teammate said: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. 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."

Alonso said: "At one point I thought I was in the right place on the inner side, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outer side switching back 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 yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Piastri steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Fernando attack on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I aimed to leave space for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Aftermath and Team Response

McLaren will review the incident with their racers but only after the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 10 PM BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "In general displeased but we accept it, we are now focusing on fixing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

"We are in a competitive place from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to race, race normally and utilize our performance."

"The points are the key thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more prudence would be beneficial for everyone."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and thirty-three adrift of Norris.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the numbers show - we lost eight points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was approaching the championship race by race.

US GP

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

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