🔗 Share this article

McLaren F1 team leaders Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to rival drivers for the incident between Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint event.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the standings by twenty-two points, made contact with his fellow McLaren driver after making contact with the Hulkenberg.

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

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Brown, the team's CEO, commented to broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "unprofessional", adding: "Obviously Nico made contact with Oscar 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 drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with appropriate caution. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren indicated that Stella was referring to both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

However, 1996 world champion Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he believed the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to pass Norris.

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

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the exit, only to hit Hulkenberg.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I haven't seen what happened, I attempted to move inside on Norris and we were both very far from the corner apex and then got a hit and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

Norris commented: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Behind us things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more thoroughly. It's more drivers further back just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

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

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

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the undercut and way out of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Oscar turned in and the contact was inevitable."

Aftermath and Team Response

The team will review the incident with their racers but not until the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before grand prix qualifying at 22:00 BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, 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 competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, race normally and utilize our capabilities."

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

Championship Implications

The race was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who gained ground on both team racers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind the Australian and 33 behind of the Briton.

The team boss said: "The consequence is what the maths show - we lost eight points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a very competitive vehicle and two skilled racers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was approaching the title race race by race.

US GP

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

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