🔗 Share this article

McLaren Formula 1 leaders Zak Brown and Andrea Stella attributed opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint event.

The Australian driver, leading his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, made contact with his team-mate after making contact with the Nico Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the start was "unprofessional", remarking: "Clearly Nico drove into Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

The team boss Stella added: "The reaction is that we are displeased that we were denied the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with necessary care. Enter the initial turn, make sure you don't damage competitors and carry on."

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

Contrasting Views on the Crash

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he believed Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an F1 race when he chose to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a better start than the Briton and initially competed on the outer side on the uphill entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a advantage on his teammate on the way out, only to make contact with Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what happened, I tried to move inside on Norris and we were both quite distant from the corner apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Lando. 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 review a bit more carefully. It's more drivers behind just being a bit reckless and we are the consequence of that."

The Aston Martin driver said: "At one point I thought I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some cars came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

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

"Piastri steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and exit of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

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

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

McLaren will analyze the incident with their racers but only after the race 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 focusing on repairing the cars, 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 trust we have the opportunity to race, compete fairly and capitalise on our capabilities."

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

Championship Implications

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

Stella said: "The implication 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 strong drivers. We anticipate just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was taking the championship one event at a time.

US GP

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

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