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Valtteri Bottas escaped unharmed after suffering a massive crash on lap 45 of Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix.
The 37-year-old Finnish driver was running at the back of the grid when his Cadillac car suffered a failure at turn one – the end of the massive long straight in Mexico City.
The front-left tyre of Bottas’ car burst, resulting in a spin and the rear of the Cadillac car smashing into the barrier.
Race control immediately triggered a safety car, which then changed to a red flag, stopping the race and forcing the cars into the pit-lane.
The move went against Lewis Hamilton, who had just pitted under the safety car, and dropped a spot to fourth behind Kimi Antonelli. Under red flag conditions, all drivers can change their tyres.
Hamilton, already fuming at his Ferrari team for not acting after the clash with Leclerc, said on team radio: “We have big problems – big, big problems.”
Max Verstappen leads the race, with Charles Leclerc second after his first-lap clash with Hamilton.
Antonelli, in third, is set to win the world championship; the Italian only needs to finish ninth or higher.
