Video: how Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso’s scary crash unfolded | 2015 Austrian GP. First lap drama in Austria in 2015 as two former F1 world champions crash out .

First-lap crashes are nothing new in Formula 1 – put 20 breathtakingly quick cars in close proximity on a race track and the law of averages dictates that eventually two or more of them will come into collision.

Sometimes it’s just bashing wheels, yet at other times it results in truly spectacular incidents. Kimi Raikkonen’s tank-slapper and messy tangle with Fernando Alonso at the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix sits firmly in the latter category. Race stewards determined the crash was a racing incident with neither driver at fault. But just how did two of the world’s best and most experienced drivers, with three world titles and 462 race starts between them, come together in such a big way?

Both Raikkonen and Alonso started near the back of the grid, Raikkonen in 14th after a disastrous qualifying session and Alonso in 19th in his uncompetitive McLaren, which was also hit with a grid penalty. They each kept their noses clean through the first turn, Raikkonen more or less holding station in 14th and Alonso dispatching the Manors, Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson to sit on the Finn’s tail into turn two.

Braking into turn two, Kimi Raikkonen was crowded a little by the two Lotus cars ahead, causing him to put a wheel off the track just past the 50-metre board. This, and the Lotus car ahead, compromised his exit from the corner, allowing the Force India of Sergio Perez to come by. It also allowed Alonso to close in even more on the back of the Ferrari. Kimi nevertheless looked in control as he straightened up for the long run down to turn three, but the engine note of his Ferrari told a different tale.

As he accelerated through the gears, his soft Pirelli tyres were struggling for traction, and just before he crossed the DRS activation line the first telltale signs of a loose rear end became evident as Raikkonen turned the wheel sharp left. A second, more pronounced, correction followed a split second later, at which point the game was up. A snap correction to the right was the prelude to the car spearing sideways to the left of the circuit and collecting the innocent Alonso.

A lucky escape
The wayward Ferrari smashed into the McLaren, taking both into the barriers at more than 100mph and forcing Raikkonen’s car partly under the McLaren. Fortunately, although the two cars skidded along the barriers with the McLaren on top of the Ferrari, not far in front of Raikkonen’s head, both men were unhurt. Not known for his eloquence, it was perhaps to be expected that Kimi would not shed too much light on the incident after the race, saying: “I got some wheelspin and then went left, which was unusual so it’s hard to say. I don’t know exactly why it was so aggressive and what caused it, but the end result is always the same. It was a pretty odd place. Usually you get wheelspin when you come out of the corner, but obviously it was very far away.” – he explained.