McLaren Racing Points Finger at Rival Drivers for Norris-Piastri Incident

McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Stella pointed to opposing racers for the incident between Oscar Piastri and Norris at the start of the US GP sprint event.

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

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

Team Executives Voice Frustration Over Crash

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, commented to Sky Sports that some of the driving at the front was "unprofessional", adding: "Obviously Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no reason being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella stated: "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 experience don't act with appropriate caution. Go to the initial turn, make sure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

McLaren indicated that Stella was mentioning both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

Contrasting Views on the Incident

However, former champion Hill, providing analysis for BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, said he thought Piastri had not demonstrated enough awareness of the risks of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to move inside to try to overtake his teammate.

The Australian had a better start than the Briton and initially competed on the outside on the ascending approach to the corner.

However he then cut back in an effort to get a run on Norris on the exit, only to hit the Sauber driver.

Driver Reactions After the Incident

The McLaren driver said: "Not ideal but I did not see what happened, I attempted to cut back on Norris and we were both very far from the apex and then got a hit and it sent me into Norris. Unfortunate."

His teammate commented: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Behind us 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 behind just being a bit careless and we are the consequence of that."

Alonso said: "At one point I believed I was in the right place on the inside, but some cars came very quickly from the outside switching back and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had qualified a season-best fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the good work from yesterday in the bin. Just messy."

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

"I had Fernando challenge on the inside and I was unable to see him any more. I wanted to provide room for him and then Oscar steered inward and the contact was unavoidable."

Post-Crash and Team Response

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

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

"Our team holds a strong position from our competitiveness point of view so I trust we have the opportunity to race, race normally and capitalise on our performance."

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

Championship Implications

The sprint event was won by Red Bull's Verstappen, who closed in on both McLaren drivers in the championship - he is now fifty-five points behind Piastri and thirty-three behind of the Briton.

Stella said: "The implication is what the maths says - we missed out on eight points with both drivers, but we focus on ourselves. We have a very competitive car and two strong racers. We look forward to just some standard competition."

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

US GP

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

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