Drivers piled up behind a slow-starting Max Verstappen all crashed into each other at the very start of the Singapore Grand Prix. Force India driver Nico Hülkenberg spun into the wall, bringing out the safety car immediately.
Another view, from the stands:
Hülkenberg had a good start, but Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz didn’t, and the two tried to squeeze into one space to ill effects. The Force India car was sandwiched in the middle of the two Toro Rossos and had nowhere else to go. Hülkenberg’s car spun into the wall after colliding with Sainz, triggering the safety car right at the start.
The stewards took no further action on the mess, chalking it up to the difficulties of a standing start. Still, it’s disappointing to see one of the more talented guys in F1 eat wall immediately after the beginning. Maybe he should’ve run with Porsche instead this weekend?
Hülkenberg’s crash left quite a bit of carnage in his wake, puncturing the tire on Valtteri Bottas’ Williams, damaging Jenson Button’s front wing, and of course, damaging Sainz’s car.
This race is going to be an interesting one. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was forced to start from the back after a rear anti-roll bar failure screwed up his qualifying session, per NBC Sports. Unfortunately, we won’t see Romain Grosjean out at all, as a brake issue on his Haas F1 car had a brake issue that couldn’t be resolved before the race.
Speaking of brake issues, the ultra-dominant Mercedes cars are being told the mind their brakes during this race, too. There’s all kinds of things mixing things up at night in Singapore.