Hulkenberg: It was nasty, it's my bad, my mistake

Hulkenberg ran too hot in the drag race to the Spa-Francorchamps Turn 1 hairpin, on the outside of the track he got on the brakes way too late rammed the McLaren of Fernando Alonso who launched over the Sauber of Charles Leclerc and tapped the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo who tagged the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen - neither five drivers finished the race.

Credit to the German, a respected and competitor, who immediately put up his hand to take full blame for the nasty incident, "I basically misjudged the grip level. It was nasty, it doesn’t look great. It’s my bad, my mistake. Today it went wrong quite badly. I’ll accept it and move on."

"I'm forever finding out how sensitive these cars are. I locked up the front wheels and then slid into Fernando. It was a misjudgment on my behalf and I was too slow on the brakes and then hit him," added the German.

Hulkenberg will serve his 10-place grid penalty next Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix and has also had three penalty points applied to his race licence.

At the start of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean (then with Lotus) triggered a very similar shunt at the Hairpin and was handed a one race ban for causing the accident.

At the time the Frenchman was a regular victim of his own red mist and the Spa incident the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for the FIA Stewards who handed him the ban.