The four-time World Champion, who was famously involved in controversial incidents with his McLaren teammate Ayrton Senna, hopes that Mercedes will continue to allow its drivers to race hard.

“First of all, we know that especially in this race, the one who is going to lead the first lap, especially when you have the same cars, it's going to be the advantage,” he said.

“So they know that. And Lewis, he has to win. We also know this year that it's very rare that you do a perfect start, and also the whole combination gives a lot more pressure.

“For sure, Nico has done a right move at the first corner, it was going well. He had a problem at Turn 3, because you can see the red light, and for sure the speed was not there.

"And then if you're in Nico's position, you want to protect your position, and that's why he went quite a lot on the right. But it's allowed by the regulations, and that's a fact.

“And then obviously with Lewis, maybe he saw the difference of speed, and he decided to go at the same time. The speed difference is so high, I don't know how much it is but it's quite high, and as soon as he made the decision it's too late, because he already had a wheel on the grass.

"For me it's more a race incident considering some different parameters.”

Regarding the Mercedes philosophy, Prost said: “Thanks to Mercedes for letting the drivers to be free.

"If they do not dominate and they do that once or twice again, for sure they are going to say, 'You're number one and you're two,' because they don't want to lose the championship, which is normal.

“We have to be careful that we don't overreact about this. They say they don't want to change things, [but it's] just before a race like Monaco, and Red Bull is coming back... It's difficult to react. Let's calm down.”