The Haas driver slid into the Sauber as they contested Turn 3 on the opening lap, putting both cars into the gravel.

While both were able to continue before retiring later in the race, Ericsson said the damage sustained in the clash ruined his chances of being competitive – but he also tweeted the day after the race saying Magnussen apologised for the collision.

When asked by Motorsport.com/Autosport about apologising, Magnussen told reporters in China ahead of this weekend’s second race of the year: “No, I didn’t.

“I saw the tweet. We met in the plane and talked about it, but I didn’t apologise.

“It’s not his fault – it’s a racing incident. He was on the outside, I understeered into him.

“It was actually an oversteer that turned into an understeer – if I was him, I would have left more room just to be sure.

“There was no way I could have done anything [different] anyway, but it’s a racing incident.”

On Thursday at the Shanghai circuit, Ericsson repeated his claim that Magnussen had apologised, although he was not made aware of the Dane’s comments at the track.

“We were on the same flight on Sunday night [after the Australian GP], so we had a chat on the plane, and Kevin put his hands up and said he was sorry,” said Ericsson.

“I know Kevin well and I know he wasn’t intending to have the incident, but it’s all behind us now.”

Magnussen pointed to the fact that he was not penalised for the clash as proof that no one was at fault, although Ericsson believes any push from race officials to hand out fewer penalties this year is “a fine line”.

“For me it’s disappointing – it ruined my race after three corners,” he added.

“You can call it a racing incident, but at the same time it’s difficult for me to look back and say what I could have done different to avoid it.

“It’s on the limit – I could have seen a penalty for it. Without a penalty, I accept it, but it’s very close. For me it was clear that it was Kevin’s fault and he didn’t get a penalty.

“Now they’ve shown they are taking a decision on what is allowed, so I hope that is going to be the case here as well.

“If they suddenly start penalising guys now when similar things happen, it will be very confusing.”

Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov and Roberto Chinchero