Early exits for Button and Speed.

Jenson Button and Scott Speed both went out on the opening lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, when they got caught up in the mayhem at turn 3 and were eliminated in separate incidents just metres apart.

Both appeared to have been tipped from behind, but with their engines dead and bodywork shed, neither the Honda or the Toro Rosso was going any further and as such the safety car was despatched to give the marshals time to clear up the mess.

Speaking after the incident, Button seemed to blame fellow countryman David Coulthard for his early exit and reckoned that the Scot had cut in on him 'sharply' leaving him with nowhere to go.

"I got a good start and made up at least three places then at turn 2 Taku (Sato) ran wide, tried to squeeze me and I had nowhere to go so I had to go on the dirt on the inside. Then in turn 3, I had Coulthard and someone else fighting around me. DC went wide then cut back sharp and again I had nowhere to go," explained the Englishman.

"We touched and that spun me round, then the anti-stall didn't cut in, I stalled and that was the end of my race after just three corners."

Speed meanwhile appeared to be spun by Adrian Sutil, who had to pit following the incident for a new nosecone. The Spyker later rejoined after his car had been repaired, albeit several laps down.

"That was a short race! I got hit from behind and I don't know who by," said the Toro Rosso pilot. "In any case the engine cut out while the car was still spinning so I couldn't do anything about it.

"Jenson thought he hit me, but actually I don't think we touched. Something like this is a shame, because we are still at a stage where we need to do as many miles as possible to develop the car, so stopping on lap 1 isn't really doing us any favours."

Sutil, who eventually finished in 15th and last place, 4 laps down, said that the cars in front had stopped abruptly, and as such he couldn't avoid them.

"I had a difficult start," he noted. "Suddenly the cars in front stopped and I couldn't avoid them and lost the front wing.

"I lost three laps with the repairs and the car wasn't the easiest to drive after; when it had a lot of fuel in, the balance was completely different.

"I did do some consistent lap times during the race though and didn't make any mistakes and in the end I am happy as this was the goal. I feel confident now going into the European season," he summed-up.