Do further action will be taken on the first lap incident that ended the race for Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. The stewards were unable to place the blame entirely on just one driver.
The incident in question occurred on the main straight of the Singapore Grand Prix on the opening lap of the race. Front row start Verstappen had a poor start, while Räikkönen directly behind had a very good start. At the same time, Vettel also had a poor start. Räikkönen attempted to overtake Verstappen, who had moved slightly to the right to allow him to do so. On the other side of Verstappen, Vettel was moving over to the left to cover any faster drivers that may try to overtake him. This left Verstappen in the middle of a Ferrari sandwich.
Verstappen made contact with Räikkönen and the Ferrari veered to the right, slamming hard into the sidepod of his teammate. Räikkönen continued to skid down the track, eventually coming into turn one and colliding heavily with Verstappen and Fernando Alonso. Räikkönen and Verstappen retired instantly. Vettel continued in the lead around the first sequence of turns, spinning shortly after due to the wet conditions and leaking coolant from his car. Alonso continued the race with a large hole in his sidepod and eventually retired from the race.
The stewards said that they would investigate the incident after the race. The stewards reviewed video footage and heard statements from Räikkönen, Vettel and Verstappen as well as both Ferrari and Red Bull representatives.
“The Stewards consider that no driver was found to have been wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident and will therefore take no further action,” read the statement from the stewards, in part.
