Mark Webber's Formula One season suffered a setback with a mistake which ended his European Grand Prix hopes before the first corner.

The Australian qualified third on the grid at the Nurburgring in Germany behind teammate Nick Heidfeld on pole and Kimi Raikkonen but was away to his usual poor start.

Desperate to hold onto his position, the Williams driver braked far too late into the first turn, spearing straight ahead as the McLaren of Juan Pablo Montoya made an attempt to get around the corner and the two collided.

The incident left Webber stranded in the run-off area, his race over just seconds after it had begun.

It was a shock after his third place in last week's GP in Monaco and again left him shaded by Heidfeld, who scored his second consecutive runner-up position.

The race was won by Spaniard Fernando Alonso in a Renault after race leader Raikkonen's McLaren suffered disintegrating tyres and suspension damage just one lap from the finish.

The teams will head to the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 12 with Alonso a runaway leader of the drivers' championship on 59 points from Raikkonen and Toyota's Jarno Trulli (27 points) with Heidfeld fourth on 25 and Webber fifth with 18.

Webber was quick to accept blame for his early crash.

"There is no excuse really as I tried to stay ahead of Jarno Trulli and couldn't quite get in on the corner," Webber said.

"It's not up to Juan Pablo to give me space at that stage as he has to get round it himself.

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