British F4 race in Zandvoort abandoned after massive start-line crash

A history-making British Formula 4 weekend in Zandvoort has been marred by a massive start-line crash that seems to have been caused by the starting lights turning off, then flickering back on.

Eight women, including five F1 Academy racers, had lined up on the grid for the event, only for the race to be postponed to Sunday when almost the entire field piled up during what should have been the race start.

Zandvoort British F4: Lights out… and back on again

This weekend, the British Formula 4 series has popped out to Zandvoort, one of the most iconic race tracks in the Netherlands, for its one international race of the 2024 season.

It promised to be a weekend to watch, too, with the appearance of a record-breaking eight women in the field. Five F1 Academy racers — Bianca Bustamante, Jessica Edgar, Aurelia Nobels, Carrie Schreiner, and Abbi Pulling — were lined up to start, along with three additional women racers: Ella Lloyd, Chloe Chong, and Nina Gademan.

At the start, however, something strange happened.

The five red lights that build up to the start of the race went out — and then almost instantly came back on.

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The strange procedural error seemed to surprise the field. Some drivers remained stationary, while others seemingly continued on with their start. Even a slew of yellow flags failed to mitigate the gnarly crash.

After 19 seconds, the race was red flagged, and the stream was quickly deleted.

British F4 posted on X, “ Unfortunately, Race 2 has been abandoned and will be rescheduled for tomorrow. Time TBC – we’ll keep you updated.”

While it is still unclear what exactly happened or what drivers were involved, clips circling social media seem to show the following drivers having made contact: Abbi Pulling, Rowan Campbell-Pilling, Alex Ninovic, Ernesto Rivera, Maxwell Dodds, Reza Seewooruthun, James Higgins, Nina Gademan, Bianca Bustamante, and Jessica Edgar.

Though there will inevitably be some damage to the cars involved, there is currently no indication that anyone was hurt.

Race 1, which took place earlier on Saturday, made history as the first-ever British F4 race held abroad. Driver Deagen Fairclough dominated the race, with Alex Ninovic and Martin Molnar rounding out the podium.

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