F1 LIVE: Japanese GP updates with race to resume after Carlos Sainz crash in heavy rain

Race will resume in 10 MINUTES time. Race control says the Grand Prix will get going at 4:15 local time (8:15am BST)

Good news! It’ll be behind the safety car and on mandatory wet tyres to begin with…

Radar suggests the last of the heavy rain showers has passed…

Maybe they listened to Lewis Hamilton on Instagram: “Let’s get going… give it a shot. We’ll know immediately if it’s driveable or not.”

“How can we make it clear that we never want to see a crane on track? We lost Jules because of that mistake.

“What happened today is totally unacceptable!!!!! I hope this is the last time ever I see a crane on track!”

Drivers letting their feelings known on an incident which has become the main talking point here…

“Should have been an instant red flag with a stricken car in a critical position in those conditions.

“Clearly debris on track too. Should NEVER EVER be a tractor on track until the cars are all collected up behind a safety car or in the pits. Gasly can’t take all the blame here.”

“Totally unacceptable. We lost Jules Binachi here and that should never ever happen. There needs to be a full investigation as to why there was a recovery vehicle on the circuit. In these conditions were visibility is zero, extremely dangerous.

“The VSC was brought in for a reason following that awful accident. There needs to be a full investigation as to why that vehicle was on track because it shouldn’t have been.

“Without all the facts it’s hard to comment why it was on track. Allow the FIA to do the full due dilligence on it because it shouldn’t happen.”

“Max is struggling to see so how can anyone behind him see anything at all. It’s a tricky one – the standing water causes the issues. You get this aquaplaining where the car is lifted up and the drivers have no control at all.

On whether we’ve avoided a bigger accident: “I think we got lucky so far. It’s unimaginable when you see something like that, thankfully the drivers are all in one place.

“We’re going to start losing daylight and there’s no signs of it letting up. Tremendous shame for all these fans in the pouring rain but safety does come first. Max is pretty relaxed [about Championship].”

“I didn’t see what happened but those things are seperate from the weather. We need to learn from it and never repeat it. Safety comes first – it’s why we’re in the pit lane. I think we should go behind the safety car on full wet tyres to see what it’s like.

“Put them out behind a safety car, make sure everyone’s safe, and then decide whether to start or not. I’d put them out on full wets. And then decide. We should learn from Spa [2021], de ja vu. What we learned from Spa – should have started the race an hour early…”

The McLaren boss doesn’t think the race will start here. ”There is no way we can start the race.” Clock down to 1:30 left…

On Gasly/truck incident: “It’s clear what happened absolutely must not happen. No doubt. At the same time, we need to have a discussion behind closed doors because that’s the right way to work in a constructive way.

“The drivers will be involved in the discussion. Safety must be the priority.”

Lando Norris, with race still red-flagged and the drivers in the garage/paddock, does not mince his words on Twitter:

“Wtf. How’s this happened!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We wanna race. But this… Unacceptable.”

Pierre Gasly has been summoned to see the stewards: “Alleged breach of Art 57.2 of the FIA F1 Sporting Regulations – Speeding under Red Flag Conditions (Car 10 reached speeds of up to 250 km/h when completing the lap under the red flag after passing the scene of the incident).”

Pierre Gasly was left furious after he passed a tractor on track at the Japanese Grand Prix, minutes before the race was red-flagged due to heavy rain.

The frightening incident brought up memories of the fatal crash involving Jules Bianchi in 2014, which also occured at the Japanese Grand Prix, and raises serious questions for Formula One. Bianchi’s father, Phillipe, criticised the incident on social media and commented: “No respect for the life of the driver no respect for Jules memory”.

Amid wet conditions and standing water at Suzuka, a chaotic opening lap saw both Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon crash out. The impact of Sainz hitting the barrier forced a piece to rebound back on track and hit Gasly’s car, forcing the Frenchman to pit for a new front nose.

Once Gasly returned to the track in 18th place, the conditions had got worse and the race was red-flagged, with all remaining cars returning to the pits.

But as Gasly caught up at the back of the field, the AlphaTauri driver was shocked to see a recovery vehicle driving on the track in the opposite direction.

“What the… what the, what is this tractor doing here,” an incredulous Gasly said after passing the vehicle.

Bianchi, who was a talented young driver, suffered fatal head injuries after sliding off-track in heavy rain and colliding with a recovery vehicle at high speed.

The two-hour clock has now started for the end/completion of this race – we definitely won’t be getting the full 53 laps in here, with rain still falling in Suzuka.

Jenson Button, speaking on Sky F1, about the Gasly incident: “Catastrophic accident… Pierre probably shouldn’t have been going at that speed but the tractor shouldn’t be there also because it doesn’t matter what speed you’re doing, something could go wrong.”