Webber, Klien and Montagny suffer early baths.

Although most of the attention at the first corner of the United States Grand Prix was on Nick Heidfeld's spectacular flip, three others cars would not make it to turn two when they were involved in their own separate incident.

Indeed, Christian Klien, Mark Webber and Franck Montagny would go no further than turn one after Klien and Webber came together, launching the Williams into the air and leaving Klien stranded on the racing line. Montagny meanwhile was unable to avoid the spinning Klien in front of him.

Webber even claimed that he thought he was going to roll his car when he collided he was hit by the Austrian and pushed up onto two wheels.

"My start was reasonable and I got a slipstream behind Speed but there was someone really slow in
the middle of the track and I was just minding my own business on the brakes turning in and the
next minute I got harpooned by somebody on the right rear. I got launched into the air and I
thought I was going to roll. Thankfully I didn't, but the damage to the car stopped me from
continuing."

Klien though, like Webber, also claims he was the victim of another incident that caused him to collide with the Australian, suggesting that the dirty line was the reason why he was unable to stop.

"My start off the grid was actually okay. I passed both Midland cars and heading into the first corner, I was right on the inside. But then it got very tight. There's basically just one clean driving line and off it, it's really dirty. It got too tight for all the cars and I don't actually know what happened. I was next to a Williams and then a lot of cars crashed together and there was no way to get through it with no trouble. It's a shame to finish the race this early, because I think we had a chance to get some points today."

Also caught up in the melee was Montagny, who insisted he had nowhere to go but into Klien when he spun in front of him.

"I am very careful normally at the start of the race because I know we can't really fight with the others, so I don't take the risk and I prefer to finish the race. I went on the inside, braked normally and easily.

"I think Coulthard pushed against Klein and he spun in front of me and you can't stop a car when it's going 200 clicks and the car in front is only 5 metres away."