After seeing how the traffic lights went out at the start of the 2022 F1 Japanese GP, the FIA decided to raise the red flag due to the large number of accidents and heavy rain in the first meters of the race at Suzuka.
Minutes before the start of the Japanese event, the water made an appearance on the track, wetting the asphalt, which caused all the drivers to go out on the entry lap to the grid with intermediate tires. However, when the moment of truth approached, the engineers were already hesitant to take out the extreme rain tires.
The international federation was determined to start in the usual way, with the lights from the grid, but after only one lap, the stewards realized that the weather conditions were very bad due to the amount of water that rose with the passing of the single-seaters and they decided to raise the red flag.
Before seeing how the appointment was neutralized, Carlos Sainz hit the protections after the hairpin of the second sector due to aquaplaning that he suffered with his Ferrari. He was not the only one who had a difficult start, as Sebastian Vettel, even before reaching the first corner, touched Fernando Alonso, although both veterans were able to continue.
Furthermore, Guanyu Zhou was left upside down at the hairpin itself losing the rear of his Alfa Romeo, but everyone behind the Chinese managed to avoid the crash. However, Alexander Albon’s Williams left the Anglo-Thai stranded before the finish line, forcing him to retire on the first lap of the race.
At the moment, the FIA had given 14:50 local time as the restart time, and through the international broadcast the safety car could be seen rolling to assess how the asphalt is. The drivers were going to go out on the track again behind the Safety Car to go around and try to dry the track, but the governing body suspended the resumption and the fans in the stands fear the worst, seeing the repetition of what happened in the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix .
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