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McLaren Formula 1 executives Brown and Stella pointed to opposing racers for the crash between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

The Australian driver, ahead of his teammate in the standings by 22 points, crashed into his team-mate after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

The collision took both team drivers from the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of Hulkenberg.

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the driving at the front was "inexperienced", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella stated: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the opportunity to race."

"It is unexpected that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with justful prudence. Go to the first corner, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren clarified that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event 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 outer side on the uphill entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an effort to get a advantage on his teammate on the exit, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen 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 commented: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more people further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the correct position on the inner side, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had earned a season-best fourth, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from yesterday in the bin. Just chaotic."

"Piastri steered inward pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and exit 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 Oscar steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

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

The team principal said: "In general disappointed but we accept it, we are now focusing on fixing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event 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 capitalise on our capabilities."

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just prudence. A little more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Championship Implications

The sprint event was taken by the Max Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of Norris.

Stella said: "The consequence is what the maths says - we lost eight championship points with both racers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some normal racing."

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the title race one event at a time.

United States Grand Prix

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

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