Autosportfoto

F1 Australian GP: Massive Alonso crash halts Australian GP

The Australian Grand Prix has been red flagged after 18 laps following a huge accident involving Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez.

The Spaniard was coming up behind the Haas of Gutierrez to try and pass at turn three, but found the way blocked at the outside, causing him to strike the back of the car.

With the McLaren slamming into the outside wall, it then skated sideways towards the gravel trap, where it dug in and flipped over at speed, coming to rest cockpit first resting against the far barrier.

Despite the spectacular accident, Alonso was able to extricate himself out of the car and walked away unharmed, while Gutierrez - who was struck hard from behind - was is also seemingly unhurt.

As a result of the debris across a large stretch, the race was red flagged to allow a clear-up operation.

Prior to that, the race was shaping up nicely after both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen stole the initiative from the Mercedes' into the opening bends. With Rosberg running a slow-starting Lewis Hamilton out wide at turn one, with some minor contact, the defending champion slipped as low as sixth.

With different strategies starting to play out, Vettel was leading at the stoppage, from Rosberg - who passed Raikkonen in the pits - and a fast ascending Daniel Ricciardo, up from eighth on the grid. The race will restart with Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz fifth and sixth, with Hamilton - who was on medium tyres - now sixth. 

Zdroj: crash.net