After a classification in which the first three finished separated by a minimum difference of 0.057 seconds , a lot of equality was expected from the initial stages of the race on Sunday and finally it was, something that added to the incentive of the rain and the intermediate tires , they turned on the alarms facing the exit.
Already on the formation lap, the large amount of spray raised by the cars meant that absolutely nothing could be seen and that increased the possibility of an accident on the first lap. Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen came out better than Carlos Sainz, who fell behind in the first meters.
The Madrid native, in a stubborn position and practically alone, was the first to lose control of his car between the hairpin and the Spoon curve, ending up crashing his Ferrari into the protections of the Suzuka track, putting an end to his race before of time and causing the departure of a safety car that ended in a red flag a few minutes later.
This was Sainz’s accident on the first lap of the Japanese GP:
In addition to the Spanish driver, several other drivers had problems, including Alexander Albon, who also had to say goodbye to the Japanese Grand Prix on the first lap of the race after leaving his Williams parked in an area close to the Carlos Sainz incident .
Due to weather conditions that worsened before the start and caused a bit of chaos at the start in which everyone opted for the intermediate compounds, perhaps a not very wise decision from what was seen, the FIA made the decision to take out the red flag to wait for track conditions to improve.
With this, there are already five abandonments of the Spanish Ferrari driver so far this season, numbers that he will have to improve if he wants to fight for the title next season, in case the Maranello team builds again for the second consecutive year one of the most competitive cars on the entire Formula 1 grid.
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