🔗 Share this article

McLaren Formula 1 executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella attributed competitors for the crash between Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the US GP sprint race.

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

The crash took both team drivers out of the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, the team's CEO, stated to broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", stating: "Clearly Hulkenberg drove into Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team team principal Stella commented: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the possibility to race."

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

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

Differing Perspectives on the Crash

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he believed Piastri had not shown enough understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he chose to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

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

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

Driver Reactions After the Collision

The McLaren driver said: "Less than perfect but I haven't seen what happened, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both quite distant from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. Unfortunate."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us events unfolded and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more people behind just being a bit reckless 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 vehicles came very fast from the outer side changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a season-best fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the trash. Just messy."

"Piastri steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the inside line and exit of the first corner but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso challenge on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri turned in and the collision was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and McLaren's Reaction

The team will review the crash 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.

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now concentrating on repairing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will resume 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, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

"The points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A bit more prudence would be beneficial for all involved."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was taken by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind the Australian 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 skilled racers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

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

United States Grand Prix

17-19 October, with main event from 8 PM BST on the final day

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, additional channels and extra coverage; real-time updates on BBC Sport website and app