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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Zak Brown and Stella blamed opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

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

The incident took both team drivers out of the race, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inner side of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's chief executive officer, commented to Sky Sports that some of the racing at the start was "amateur hour", stating: "Clearly Nico made contact with Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team boss Andrea Stella commented: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the possibility to compete."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of expertise fail to act with necessary care. Go to the first corner, ensure you avoid harming other drivers and continue."

McLaren suggested that the team principal was mentioning both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, former champion Damon Hill, commentating for a sports broadcast, said he believed Piastri had not demonstrated enough understanding of the dangers of the opening turn of an F1 race when he decided to move inside to try to pass his teammate.

The Australian had a better start than Norris and initially challenged on the outside on the uphill 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.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Less than perfect but I did not see what occurred, I attempted to cut back on Norris and we were both quite distant from the apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. Unfortunate."

Norris said: "I just was struck, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and got hit because of it. I don't know. I need to look a bit more carefully. 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 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 season-best fourth, said: "Major disappointment. All the good work from yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

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

"I had Fernando challenge on the inner side and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri steered inward and the contact was inevitable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the incident with their drivers but not until the race weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now concentrating on repairing the cars, there is a lot to do and then we will resume the weekend from there."

"We are in a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I hope we have the possibility to compete, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

"Championship points are the key thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just caution. A little more care would be beneficial for all involved."

Championship Implications

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

Stella said: "The implication is what the maths show - we lost eight championship points with both drivers, but we concentrate on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two strong drivers. We anticipate just some normal racing."

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

United States Grand Prix

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

Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app