Chaos rains at Nurburgring

The start to the European Grand Prix was one of the most amazing seen in Formula One for many years as rain drenched the circuit before the first lap, and after 13 minutes it was halted by a red flag.

Lewis Hamilton, who had started from 10th on the grid following a 175mph smash in qualifying yesterday, was up to fourth after the first few corners of the Nurburgring track.

But then the world championship leader appeared to have a problem with his McLaren as he started to drop back through the field. However, before the first lap had been completed, rain started to hit the track, and it caused immediate chaos.

Kimi Raikkonen, who had started on pole and made a clean getaway, skidded back on to the track as he tried to make his way down the lane approaching the pits. Behind the Finn, the cars piled in for a change of tyres, but as they re-emerged, the rain turned into a downpour.

At the end of lap two debut-making Spyker tester Markus Winkelhock led the race, but due to the conditions the safety car was quickly introduced.

Even so, and with the cars on rain tyres, seven skidded off at the first corner in the space of 30 seconds. There was the farcical sight of Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Hamilton, Rosberg, Anthony Davidson, Scott Speed and Vitantonio Liuzzi all sliding into the gravel.

Liuzzi almost collided with a crane that was trundling across the gravel during his skid, with the vehicle en route to lift Hamilton back onto the circuit.

But the rain then developed into a virtual monsoon, and the race officials were left with no choice but to produce the red flag.