Japanese GP red-flagged after chaotic first lap with Carlos Sainz smash and Vettel spin

The first attempt to run the Japanese Grand Prix was aborted after just one lap as no fewer than four cars suffered accidents in the very wet conditions at Suzuka.

Visibility was very poor as the race got under way, causing Sebastian Vettel and Zhou Guanyu to spin in the first few corners. But they will be able to continue once the race restarts, unlike Carlos Sainz who smashed into a barrier and Alex Albon, whose Williams suffered a gearbox failure.

Sainz started third but only made it around a few corners before he lost control of his Ferrari. He was uninjured in the crash, but his car was far too heavily damaged to continue, while the advertising hoarding he hit flew off and got stuck on Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri.

As for Albon, he manage to maintain grip on the slippery track, but was instead thwarted by his own gearbox. Replays showed him struggling to change gear before he was forced to give up and pull over to the side of the track to retire from the race.

Vettel will be able to continue, but will be a lot further back than his starting position of ninth. That was because of the spin he had at the first corner, as a huge amount of spray was thrown up into the air making visibility extremely poor for 20 cars travelling at high speed.

As he attempted to go round that first corner, his wheels made contact with those of Fernando Alonso and he was sent onto the grass, though he avoided crashing. Alonso managed to continue unscathed, and even overtook Lewis Hamilton before the race was halted.

A huge amount of spray severely hampered visibility at the start of the race (Getty Images)

Zhou's spin did not involve anyone else – he simply lost traction going around a corner and ended up with his Alfa Romeo facing the wrong way, but with no damage to his car there was no question about the Chinese racer being able to continue.

But he, like everyone else, was made to wait for the race director to be happy. Eduardo Freitas, filling the role for this weekend, decided to delay the restart of the race until a particularly heavy patch of rain passed over the circuit – though the wet weather appeared to be set in for the rest of the day.