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McLaren Formula 1 bosses Brown and Stella pointed to opposing racers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

The Australian driver, leading Norris in the championship by twenty-two points, bounced into his team-mate after hitting the Hulkenberg.

The incident forced out both team drivers from the event, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of Hulkenberg.

McLaren Leaders Express Disappointment Over Incident

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the start was "unprofessional", remarking: "Clearly Hulkenberg hit Piastri and he had no business being where he was."

The team boss Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we were denied the chance to race."

"It's surprising that some drivers with a lot of expertise don't act with appropriate caution. Enter the first corner, make sure you don't damage other drivers and continue."

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

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, former champion Hill, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought the Australian had not shown enough awareness of the dangers of the first corner of an F1 race when he decided to cut back to try to overtake his teammate.

The Australian had a stronger launch than Norris and initially challenged on the outer side on the uphill approach to the turn.

But he then moved inside in an attempt to get a advantage on Norris on the way out, only to make contact with the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Collision

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

Norris commented: "I just got hit, right? I was not at fault. Behind us 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 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 right place on the inner side, but some vehicles came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the center."

The Sauber driver, who had qualified a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Major disappointment. All the strong performance from the previous day in the bin. Just chaotic."

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

"I had Fernando challenge 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 collision was unavoidable."

Aftermath and McLaren's Reaction

The team will analyze the crash with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed significant repairs before qualifying session at 22:00 BST on the weekend.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we take it on the chin, we are now focusing on fixing the vehicles, there is a lot to do and then we will restart the event from there."

"We are in a competitive place from our performance point of view so I trust we have the possibility to race, compete fairly and utilize our capabilities."

"The points are the key thing, I don't want to talk about bad intentions, just caution. A little more care would be beneficial for all involved."

Championship Implications

The race was won by the Verstappen, who gained ground on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now 55 points behind Piastri and 33 adrift of Norris.

The team boss said: "The implication is what the maths says - we lost eight points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a highly capable vehicle and two strong racers. We anticipate just some standard competition."

Verstappen said he was taking the championship race by race.

United States Grand Prix

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

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