FIRES repeatedly broke out at the Chinese Grand Prix in bizarre scenes on Friday.
One shocked former world champion said amid the chaos: “We’ve never seen that before.”
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Sprint qualifying was delayed after a fire broke out besides the track of the Chinese GPCredit: Alamy
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The grass caught on fire besides the track in Free Practice 1Credit: X @SkySportsF1
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A second fire at a separate corner then broke out and caused sprint qualifying 1 to be delayedCredit: X @SkySportsF1
During the sprint qualifying session a blaze broke out on the grass beside the track.
It was the second time a fire had broken out trackside after an incident during Free Practice 1 earlier in the day.
The incident is FP1 saw the session red flagged with the grass ablaze at Turn 7.
After stewards dealt with the fire the practice session resumed.
However, a SECOND fire then broke out at Turn 5 of the Shanghai Circuit during sprint qualifying.
This second fire happened right at the end of SQ1, which was replacing the practice sessions typically seen on an F1 weekend.
The blaze forced SQ2 to be delayed.
The session eventually got underway at 15:54 local time.
Sky Sports F1 reporter Ted Kravitz had a theory as to what was causing the fires: “Just on the apex of that corner specifically, the cars do bottom out and they are producing sparks.
“And with the wind blowing where it is – so just downwind – I can absolutely imagine that the reason for the fire was that.
“There was a spark that came off the car’s skid blocks and then travelled downwind a bit and then hit that patch of dry grass.”
The repeat incident also caught 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg off guard, with him saying: “It’s on fire again, unbelievable!
“In the corner, there’s a big bump on the ground and all the cars are launching big sparks from under the car, and the wind is pushing the sparks into the track at that point and putting the grass on fire.
“We’ve never seen that before.”
Five drivers, including Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, were placed under investigation following the drama for failing to match the maximum delta time on their out-laps.
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F1 was returning to China for the first time since 2019, with the Covid pandemic causing the race to not be on the calendar – with it included on 2023’s until it was forced to be cut last minute.
After racing was resumed, rain started falling soon after.
In the wet Hamilton was pipped to pole position for the sprint race by Lando Norris after the McLaren driver appeared to have his lap time reinstated following its initial deletion for exceeding track limits.
However, the confusion had been caused from a misinterpretation of the race directors notes stating that drivers who went off at Turn 16 would have their next lap deleted and not the one when limits might have been conceded.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said:”It was reinstated by the FIA themselves.
“You go off at the last corner, you launch at much lower speed, and effectively Lando loses almost three-tenths because he’s been off at the previous last corner.”
This weekend sprint qualifying does not impact Sunday’s race, with a separate qualifying session being held tomorrow.
Instead, sprint qualifying will determine the grid for the sprint race which is also tomorrow.
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Lewis Hamilton thought he had pole position for the sprint raceCredit: AFP
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But Lando Norris pipped him to pole after having his lap time reinstated
