Brazilian GP red-flagged after startline pile-up

The Brazilian Grand Prix has been red-flagged after a multi-car crash on the run to the first corner.

Alex Albon made initial contact with Nico Hulkenberg's Haas and was then fired across the road into the other Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

Both Albon and Magnussen were out instantly after rebounding into the outside barriers, with Hulkenberg continuing at the tail of the field.

Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo also received chain-reaction damage - the McLaren clipped by the crashing cars and Ricciardo's AlphaTauri hit by a tyre sent flying in the incident.

All drivers exited their cars uninjured.

But they may get a reprieve as the race was red-flagged as the cars were on their second lap under the safety car so that the barriers at the entry to the Senna S could be repaired.

There had already been high drama before that as front row starter Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari on the formation lap.

He reported losing the hydraulics after spinning into the barriers and then parking his damaged car.

Although he could have joined the restart had his car been repaired, it was not returned to the pits.

Polesitter Max Verstappen held the lead at the start, with Lando Norris shooting from sixth to second off the line for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton also passing the Aston Martins to assume third place.

The race will resume with a standing restart at 14:31 local time.