Imola F1 qualifying interrupted twice by huge crashes
Formula 1

Imola F1 qualifying interrupted twice by huge crashes

by Scott Mitchell-Malm
2 min read

Formula 1 qualifying at Imola has been interrupted twice early on by major crashes triggering red flags - with first Yuki Tsunoda and then Franco Colapinto escaping without major injury.

Tsunoda's crash

On his first flying lap in Q1, Tsunoda lost the rear of his car quickly as he hit the left-hand apex kerb on the entry to the second chicane (Villeneuve).

He spun backwards into the tyre barrier with such force the car was catapulted up and onto the barrier, rolling as it did so, before coming back down to a stop in the gravel.

Tsunoda emerged on his own, seemingly OK, but was inevitably taken to the medical centre as a precaution and his car was heavily damaged all round by such a violent crash.

The session was immediately red-flagged as repairs were made to the light panel and tyre conveyor belt at the scene of the accident.

Red Bull has a major rebuild job now to get Tsunoda’s car ready for the grand prix, while for Tsunoda this is his first significant setback since being put into the senior team.

He had been competitive on Friday, lapping within a tenth of Max Verstappen, although did not get a clean lap in FP3 so went into qualifying only 17th-fastest in the final practice session.

Colapinto's crash

Unlike Tsunoda, Colapinto did set a time - one that would prove good enough for Q2 - but he will not contest the second segment after crashing out on his final Q1 attempt.

Colapinto ran wide exiting the second part of the Tamburello chicane, getting on the grass and spinning 360 degrees across the track before arriving into the barrier nose-first. He immediately reported on team radio that he was unhurt.

Though the resulting red flag effectivelty ended the session, it still resulted in a delay for the start of Q2 - which was then extended by 10 minutes as race control looked into whether Ollie Bearman's red-flag deleted lap had to be reinstated (before ultimately deciding against it).

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