Esteban Ocon: There was a red flag towards the end of the first part of the Brazilian Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon’s Alpine will start ahead of Formula 1 points leader Max Verstappen when the race resumes.

The already late race was cancelled under safety car conditions due to heavy rain. This quickly led to a red flag when Franco Colapinto lost control of his Williams on the way to the start/finish line.

Colapinto’s damaged FW46 caused the third major Williams crash of the day; Alex Albon was not on the grid due to damage sustained in qualifying. The accident brought out the red flag and debris was strewn all over the track.

That was exactly the right time for Ocon, Verstappen and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine to surprise as front runners.

Although these three drivers had not yet made a pit stop, they can now change their heavily worn intermediate tyres during the race without losing any time.

Verstappen had already done a good job, moving up 10 places from 17th on the grid in the first 10 laps of the 69-lap race.

Before the safety car came out, race leaders George Russell and Lando Norris brought their cars into the pits to change to intermediate tyres. Yuki Tsunoda, who was in third place, brought his RB car in for a tyre change.

Norris overtook Russell shortly after their pit stops, but he was disappointed to see the red flag meaning Verstappen and the Alpines could have a “free pit stop”

In that order, Ocon, Verstappen, Gasly, Norris, Russell, Tsunoda, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Fernando Alonso and Liam Lawson were to start the final lap.

Norris, Russell and the two RB drivers are still under investigation for a possible offence of starting late at the end of the session.

The restart, scheduled for 14:02 local time, will be a rolling start.

Nico Hülkenberg was thrown out of the race when the red flag was waved. He was black-flagged because his damaged Haas needed help to get back on track after spinning in Turn 1.