Monteiro apologises to Albers for crash

The Portuguese driver left his braking too late when arriving at the hairpin and hit Albers' car, causing a lot of damage to it.

The Dutchman was forced to retire while Monteiro had to pit for repairs.

"First of all, I have to apologise to my team for my mistake at the start of the race," said Monteiro, who went on to finish in 14th place. "I was on the inside portion of the track, on the dirty part, and I locked my rear wheels.

"I lost control of my car and hit my teammate, so I'm very annoyed with myself and sorry about that."

It was the second time this season that the Midland drivers have made contact, the duo having crashed at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

"It was a shame to be out so early, because I think our race pace could have been really strong - better than our qualifying, that's for sure," said Albers. "I had a reasonable start and was able to pick up a few positions, overtaking Montagny and Monteiro after the first few corners.

"I was fighting with Sato for position and then, when I arrived at Corner 10, I don't know what happened. I just felt something hit me from behind, I spun, and then I saw it was Tiago. Our wheels were interlocked, and it was game over for me, because the right side of my car was destroyed.

"I think it's quite obvious what happened, so let's leave it at that and move on."