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McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella attributed rival drivers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

Piastri, leading Norris in the championship by twenty-two points, crashed into his team-mate after making contact with Sauber's Hulkenberg.

The incident eliminated both team drivers out of the race, along with the Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Crash

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "unprofessional", stating: "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 displeased that we didn't have the opportunity to compete."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and carry on."

McLaren clarified that the team principal was pointing to both the Sauber driver and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, former champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the first corner of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a stronger launch than Norris and initially competed on the outside on the uphill entry to the turn.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the exit, only to collide with the Sauber driver.

Racer Comments After the Collision

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

Norris commented: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit reckless and we are the result of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inside, but some cars came very quickly from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the center."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a season-best fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

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

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

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will review the incident with their drivers but only after the event weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "In general 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 resume the weekend from there."

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

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

Championship Implications

The sprint event was taken 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 Norris.

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

Verstappen said he was taking the championship race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; real-time updates on BBC Sport website and app