Bottas’s Mercedes made an excellent initial getaway, but appeared to brake sooner for Turn 1 than his rivals – allowing Raikkonen and Verstappen to draw alongside to his outside.

Bottas then clipped Raikkonen’s right-rear wheel, sending the Finn into Verstappen – the secondary collision causing suspension failures on both the Ferrari and Red Bull.

“It all started when I got hit on my right-rear corner,” said Raikkonen. “It jumped a little bit and then obviously you cannot control a lot after that. Then we came together with Max, but it all started from the first touch. What can you do?

“I made a good start, got blocked by Bottas on the straight once, I had to lift already, and then we touched and my race ended there.”

Verstappen added: “I think you can clearly see what happened – Valtteri hitting Kimi and then, of course, it was difficult for Kimi to control the car, so he then slammed into me. Normally three cars [into Turn 1] is doable, it’s always very tight.

“It was unfortunate. When you’re on the outside you know it’s a bit tricky, I was just giving a bit of space, but then I got a Ferrari slamming into me. It’s a part of racing.

Bottas said of the incident: “It was not on purpose, it’s shame we collided, it was just a small touch really.”