F1 thankful for near miss in Brazil

On a rainsoaked afternoon that saw the race twice stopped and re-started with the safety car deployed five times, there were also those who felt the sport had erred too far on the side of caution. But if there were some mocking comments on social media about the world’s top drivers being unable to cope with rain, others breathed a sigh of relief. The crash that halted the race for the first time, Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari spinning on the pit straight on lap 20 to face cars hammering along in a wall of spray, was an incident of particular focus. “Esteban (Ocon) so very, very nearly had a head-on with Kimi and if that had happened we’d all be talking a different story,” said Manor racing director Dave Ryan of his French rookie driver. Manor were previously Marussia, the team that suffered the sport’s most recent tragedy when Ocon’s compatriot Jules Bianchi suffered ultimately fatal head injuries in a crash at Suzuka in 2014. Officials indicated later, however, that they thought it better to stop and wait for a window of good weather that allowed a real chance of racing.