Race brought to standstill as F2 chaos unfolds on Monaco opening lap

Carnage has unfolded in Monaco with almost the entire field being caught up in wild scenes that took place on the opening lap.

The Formula 2 feature race at the Monaco Grand Prix has descended into absolute chaos on the opening lap.

As the lights went out and the grid made its way to the opening corner, Victor Martins who started from second got the better start and moved past pole sitter Alex Dunne as he looked to sweep around the outside up the hill.

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But it wasn’t to be as Dunne kept his nose alongside the rear of Martins and as he turned in for the apex he was sent sideways before being pinned against the barrier.

The accident between the two cars at the front then set off a chain reaction of unbridled carnage.

Watch the chaotic opening lap scenes in the video player above

Martins was fuming afterwards saying of Dunne: “He thinks he’s Max Verstappen!”

More than half of the grid got caught up in the incident which left the marshalls with no other choice than to bring out the red flags.

Absolute carnage on the opening lap

Cars piled up all over the track.

Leonardo Fornaroli, who started in P3, was the winner out of the incident as he breezed past the crash and flew away up the hill before the flags were waved.

Marshalls quickly went to work to clean up the track and get all of the cars back into the garage.

The result of the opening lap incident saw seven drivers ruled out of the race with Dunne, Martins, Richard Verschoor, Gabriele Mini, Ritomo Miyata, Josep Marti and Max Esterson back in the garage,

After a lengthy delay the race finally got back underway with the FIA electing to do a rolling restart to avoid a potential double up of the turn one chaos.

The chaos that unfolded at the opening corner.

The delay saw the race reduced down to a thirty minute sprint which teams still forced to do one mandatory pit stop.

Fornaroli got the race restarted ahead of Sebastian Montoya and Arvid Lindblad but it wasn’t long before the yellow flags were flying.

Joshua Durksen was caught out looking for a move in the final corners as he ran wide and slammed into the barriers which ended his day.

The loss of Durksen saw the field reduced to only 14 drivers with more than 24 minutes on the clock.

Only moments later Dino Beganovic slammed into the barriers which saw the safety car called upon once more.

Jack Crawford found himself the benefactor of the safety car as he jumped up into top spot before a second red flag was waved which ultimately brought an end to the race.

F2 Monaco Grand Prix results

1: Jack Crawford

2: Leonardo Fornaroli

3: Sebastian Montoya

Originally published as Race brought to standstill as F2 chaos unfolds on Monaco opening lap