Nikita Mazepin insisted it had been “pretty impossible” to avoid the contact with his team-mate Mick Schumacher that sent him into a sprint qualifying spin.

The two Haas rookies have been involved in their fair share of incidents this season and another ensued at Silverstone as a new format was trialled for the British Grand Prix.

Having filled their familiar positions at the bottom of the timesheet in the traditional one-hour qualifying session, which had been moved to Friday evening, they consequently started at the back of the grid for sprint qualifying – a ‘race’ that officially wasn’t.

As the pack snaked through the opening sequence of corners, Schumacher and Mazepin clipped wheels.