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McLaren F1 team leaders Zak Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to rival drivers for the collision between Piastri and Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

Piastri, ahead of his teammate in the championship by 22 points, bounced into his team-mate after colliding with the Hulkenberg.

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

Team Executives Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, the team's CEO, told Sky Sports that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", remarking: "Obviously Nico drove into Piastri and he had no reason being where he was."

The team team principal Andrea Stella commented: "The reaction is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"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 competitors and carry on."

The team suggested that Stella was referring to both Hulkenberg and the Aston Martin driver.

Differing Perspectives on the Incident

Nevertheless, 1996 world champion Damon Hill, providing analysis for a sports broadcast, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the risks of the opening turn of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

The Australian had a stronger launch than Norris and at first competed on the outside on the uphill entry to the corner.

But he then cut back in an attempt to get a run on his teammate on the exit, only to collide with Hulkenberg.

Racer Comments After the Incident

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I did not see what occurred, I tried to move inside on Lando and we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. A shame."

Norris said: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Further back things happened and I just got unlucky and got hit because of it. I don't know. 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."

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

The Sauber driver, who had earned a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from the previous day in the bin. Just messy."

"Oscar steered inward pretty aggressively trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

"I had Alonso attack on the inner side and I couldn't see him any more. I wanted to leave space for him and then Piastri turned in and the contact was unavoidable."

Aftermath and Team Response

The team will review the crash with their racers but only after the event weekend. Both cars needed extensive work before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

The team principal said: "In general displeased 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."

"We are in a competitive place from our performance point of view so I hope we have the opportunity to compete, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

"The points are the most important thing, I prefer not to talk about mal-intent, just prudence. A little more prudence would be good for everyone."

Standings Impact

The sprint event was won by the Max Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the standings - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of Norris.

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

The Red Bull driver said he was taking the championship race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

Real-time analysis on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sports Extra and Sports Extra 2; live text updates on BBC Sport website and mobile application