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

Piastri, ahead of Norris in the championship by twenty-two points, made contact with his team-mate after hitting Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's chief executive officer, stated to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the start was "inexperienced", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg made contact with 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 chance 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 mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough understanding of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a stronger launch than Norris and at first competed on the outer side on the uphill entry to the turn.

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

Driver Reactions After the Incident

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

His teammate said: "I just was struck, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back events unfolded 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 result of that."

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

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

"Piastri turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and exit of Turn One but I can't just disappear."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri turned in and the contact was inevitable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their racers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, 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 strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to race, compete fairly and utilize our performance."

"The points are the most important thing, I don't want to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A little more care would be good for all involved."

Standings Impact

The race was taken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who closed in on both team racers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind the Australian and 33 behind of Norris.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the numbers show - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two skilled drivers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

The Red Bull driver said he was approaching the title race race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, additional channels and Sports Extra 2; real-time updates on BBC Sport website and mobile application