The Japanese Grand Prix was red flagged on the first lap due to contact between Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon.
Just 30 seconds into the race at Suzuka, a red flag had to be waved for a clean-up after a crash involving Ricciardo and Albon as they battled for position on the opening lap.
Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon clash
Ricciardo, who started the race from 11th on the grid, had trouble escaping from the line and fell back midway through the race.While fighting for 14th place, he made what appeared to be a misjudgment.
Albon, who started the race on soft tyres, gained significantly more traction from Turn 2 and took a position on the outside of Turn 3, passing the RB driver.
However, while Ricciardo appeared to be focused on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, he seemed unaware of Williams’ presence and moved on to Albon, resulting in considerable contact between the two.
Both cars spun off the track and into a barrier, but both drivers got out of their cars unharmed. The race was red-flagged to allow cars to be recovered, debris removed and the damaged tire barrier repaired.
Albon, who appeared to be the unfortunate victim of the incident, said on the radio: He had nowhere to go. ”
Race Control is keeping an eye on the incident and will investigate the collision after the Grand Prix.
The race will resume at 14:32 local time, but will be interrupted for just over 20 minutes as a result of the collision and necessary repairs.
The 18 cars still in the race had passed the timing beam at the beginning of the lap by the time the race was red flagged and will therefore resume the race in the order they were at the end of the first sector.
This means that Max Verstappen will start from pole position on a standing restart ahead of Sergio Perez and Lando Norris.
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