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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella attributed competitors for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of Norris in the standings by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after hitting Sauber's Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, stated to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", adding: "Clearly Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are displeased that we were denied the chance to compete."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, ensure you don't damage competitors and continue."

The team suggested that the team principal was pointing to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and at first competed on the outside on the ascending entry to the corner.

But he then moved inside in an effort to get a run on Norris on the exit, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, I tried to move inside on Norris and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then were struck and it sent me into Norris. A shame."

His teammate said: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit 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 result of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inside, but some cars came very fast from the outer side switching back and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from yesterday in the trash. Just messy."

"Piastri turned in pretty aggressively trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I can't just disappear."

"I had Fernando attack on the inside and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was inevitable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will review the incident with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

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

"Our team holds a competitive place from our performance point of view so I trust we have the possibility to compete, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

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

Championship Implications

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

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

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

United States Grand Prix

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

Real-time analysis on sports radio, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app