McLaren Racing Blames Competitors for Norris-Piastri Incident

McLaren F1 team executives Zak Brown and Andrea Stella pointed to opposing racers for the collision between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris at the beginning of the United States Grand Prix sprint event.

Piastri, leading his teammate in the championship by 22 points, bounced into his fellow McLaren driver after hitting the Hulkenberg.

The collision took both team drivers out of the event, along with Aston Martin's Alonso, who was on the inside of the Sauber driver.

McLaren Leaders Voice Frustration Over Incident

Brown, McLaren Racing's CEO, told broadcasters that some of the racing at the front was "amateur hour", remarking: "Obviously Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was."

McLaren F1 team principal Stella added: "Our feeling is that we are disappointed that we didn't have the chance to race."

"It is unexpected that some racers with a lot of experience fail to act with justful prudence. Enter the first corner, make sure you avoid harming competitors and continue."

The team indicated that the team principal was referring to both Hulkenberg and Alonso.

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 understanding of the dangers of the first corner of an Formula 1 event when he decided to cut back to try to overtake Norris.

Piastri had a stronger launch than the Briton and initially competed on the outer side on the ascending approach to the turn.

But 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 Collision

Piastri said: "Not ideal but I did not see what happened, I tried to move inside on Norris and we were both quite distant from the apex and then were struck and it propelled me into Lando. A shame."

His teammate commented: "I just got hit, right? I did nothing wrong. Further back things happened and I just was unfortunate and was struck because of it. I am unsure. I need to look a bit more carefully. It's more drivers further back 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 right place on the inside, but some cars came very quickly from the outside changing direction and then I was there in the middle."

Hulkenberg, who had earned a best qualifying fourth place, said: "Big frustrations. All the strong performance from yesterday in the trash. Just chaotic."

"Oscar turned in pretty forcefully trying to get the inside line and way out of Turn One but I cannot vanish."

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

Aftermath and Team Response

McLaren will review the incident with their drivers but not until the event weekend. Both vehicles needed extensive work before qualifying session at 10 PM BST on Saturday.

Stella said: "Overall disappointed but we accept it, we are now focusing on fixing the cars, 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 trust we have the opportunity to compete, compete fairly and utilize our capabilities."

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

Standings Impact

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

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

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

US GP

17-19 October, with race from 20:00 BST on Sunday

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