It may have cost them both a second strong result on the streets of the Principality, but both Pastor Maldonado and Karun Chandhok appear to have chalked their Monaco sprint race collision down to experience.

The pair were starting seventh and sixth respectively after claiming the two remaining podium places behind Bruno Senna in Friday's feature race, but did not get beyond the opening corner before ending up in the barriers.

The run through Ste Devote is always a tight one, and there were incidents aplenty at the start of the sprint, notably Christian Bakkerud's acrobatic display that led to his retirement. Maldonado and Chandhok, however, were on the opposite side of the road, but ran out of room as the kerb came back to funnel the field around the corner.

Maldonado, on the inside, felt that he had not been left enough room to make the turn, while Chandhok claimed that the Venezuelan had entered to the corner too quickly.

“When Karun's car came to the first curve, he bumped me," the Piquet Sports driver suggested, "Given the narrowness of the track, it was impossible to avoid touching and there everything finished."

“I made a decent start and was just minding my own business when Pastor came flying up my inside, with a couple of wheels on the kerb," Chandhok countered, "I don't know whether he was distracted by some of the other stuff that was going on at the first corner, but he basically just drove straight into me and we ended up in the barriers. My right hand is a bit sore, but there's no serious damage. It was just one of those things.”

The incident was of particular disappointment to Maldonado, who saw his record as something of a Monaco master slip somewhat after he failed to add to the wins he took in the World Series in 2006 and GP2 last season. The Venezuelan started from pole on Friday but, for the second time in such a situation this season, he made a poor getaway and allowed Senna to seize the advantage.

“This time, the car started very quickly and I had wheelspin," he revealed, "I managed to stabilise it and tried to recover the top spot, but Bruno had a good march on me and, this time, the luck was with him rather than me in the traffic that we found during the race. Twice, he found space while I had to wait and that cost me valuable time."

The lead pair remained the class of the field but, given the narrowness of the streets - and two safety car periods - Maldonado was not able to find a way past his Brazilian opponent.

His retirement from race two left him with a ten-point haul from the weekend, including the two bonus points he got for taking pole, lifting him into a share of seventh overall.

“I had good momentum going into race two in Monaco, and had the opportunity to take points for a second day, so it was a disappointing way to end," the Venezuelan admitted, "Now I must think about next races. The next few circuits favour me and I expect to continue accumulating points to get closer to the leading places."