The Renault and Haas drivers made contact twice at the start, first Grosjean sending Palmer into a spin and then the Briton launching the Frenchman in the air and into the wall.

They each blamed the other for the initial contact, although following a post-race investigation the FIA decided that neither was predominantly to blame, and thus took no action.

Palmer was adamant that he had nowhere to go, as the Sauber of Pascal Wehrlein was on his left.

“Romain was on the inside,” said Palmer. “There was not really a space. I had a car on the outside as well, so I couldn’t give him any space, otherwise I would have hit a Sauber on the outside.

"I think he was very ambitious to be coming in from the kerb, right on the inside there. He obviously jumped the kerb there, and ended up going into the side of me.

“I think he was far too ambitious. There’s no gap on the inside there, it’s a very tight corner, we’ve seen many accidents over the years there. If you come in right from the inside, there’s always bunches at the apex, and that’s what happened.

"There was a car on my outside, if I gave Romain more space, then I hit the Sauber – I think it was Wehrlein. So I had to turn the corner and hope that he uses his brain, but he just committed too hard.”

Meanwhile, Grosjean was adamant that Palmer had simply turned in on him.

“There’s not much to say,” the Haas man explained. “I had a great start, a great run into Turn 1, passed Jolyon under braking. Then I was on the inside, he turned, we had contact, he spun his car.

"He came back and hit me a second time, and that put me in the wall. That was it.”

Both drivers expressed their frustration at ending their races so early after trying weekends, with Palmer losing a lot of track time and Grosjean struggling with brake issues.

“I think that’s the case every weekend so far,” said Palmer. “I’m ready to go home, re-set, and come back much stronger in Barcelona”

“I was full of hope going into the race,” said Grosjean. “Trying to understand what happened in quali and what we could do better, to help the team and to help us grow. A really positive mentality going into the race.”