OSCAR PIASTRI and Lando Norris were both left OUT of the sprint after colliding on the first corner.
The McLaren duo tangled after Piastri was tagged by Nico Hulkenberg which meant he hit his team-mate.
It was a brilliant start from Max Verstappen who won the race ahead of second-place George Russell and third-place Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen is whittling away at the McLarens championship lead with an epic charge leaving him now 55 points off table topper Piastri and only 33 away from second-place Norris.
Piastri still leads Norris by 22 points with six rounds remaining ahead of Sunday’s US Grand Prix but the Aussie has finished behind his rival in each of the last three races.
Piastri said: “I’ve not seen the incident from the TV cameras, but obviously I had a pretty good start, we both went pretty deep into Turn 1 and I tried to cut back, and got a hit, so obviously not a great way to start the day.”
Norris, who started the race in second, sounded calm about the incident on the radio with his car coming to a halt at the first sector.
The Brit said: “Someone just wiped me out, I’m out.”
Meanwhile Piastri, who qualified in third, was told he had suffered suspension damage and to “be careful” before trudging back to the pit lane and retiring.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was also out as he was involved in the aftermath of the incident.
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
Norris added after the race: “I got hit. What else was I meant to do?
“I need to look at it a bit more. I just got hit, I got taken out, so not a lot I could have done.”
The safety car was sent out due to the front wing on Hulkenberg’s Sauber flying around the track
Lewis Hamilton, who was in fifth at the time, raised concerns about the debris still scattered throughout the first sector, on his radio.
Fuming McLaren chief executive Zak Brown slammed the incident, saying: “That was terrible. Neither of our drivers are to blame there.
“That’s some amateur-hour driving by some drivers up there at the front, (they) wacked out two guys.
“I want to see the replay again but clearly Nico Hulkenberg drove into Oscar and he had no business being where he was, he went into his left-rear tyre.
“It looks like it was just limited to suspension damage, so hopefully it’s relatively easy to fix.”
Once the drama was over, Verstappen had Russell on his tail as he put his foot down to get away after the restart with six laps gone, while Sainz was in third.
The Ferraris were handed a massive boost after the first lap chaos as Charles Leclerc moved six places to go fourth while Hamilton went three places up to go fifth.
And the seven-time world champion passed Leclerc with a peach of a move to take fourth on lap nine.
Russell was dropping away from ruthless Verstappen, and was told he had avoided a penalty for “forcing another driver off track” after an earlier bold overtake attempt on the Dutchman.
On lap 16 there was more drama as Lance Stroll clumsily dived down the inside of Esteban Ocon but locked up and hit the Haas driver, leaving both drivers out of the race.
The race then trudged to an end under the safety car, not that Verstappen will care, with the McLaren drivers now looking in their rearview mirrors.
