By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
Kimi Raikkonen’s Brazilian Grand Prix came to an early and abrupt end on a restart on lap 20.
Extremely wet and treacherous conditions delayed the start of the race by 10 minutes while the grid also drove eight laps behind the safety car.
The 37-year-old Finn, who started third, became one of the many victims of the trying conditions, with Romain Grosjean wrecking out on the warmup prior to the start and Marcus Ericsson being collected on lap 13. The heavy impact along the long straight at the start/finish line caused the safety car to come back out and led to a red flag on lap 21. The 2007 F1 World Champion tagged the outside wall with the rear of his Ferrari before spinning and sliding across the track and hitting head-on with the inside wall, with several drivers narrowly missing him along the way.
Nico Hulkenberg was one of several drivers who have been critical of the wet compound Pirelli tires as he radioed his complaints as Raikkonen’s debris littered the circuit.
“These tires are not capable,” Hulkenberg said.
The race is expected to resume, but lap 53 is the cut off for awarding half points should the FIA look at suspending the race entirely.
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