The chaos began when Prema drivers Newman Chi and Salim Hanna Hernandez failed to move from either side of the grid when the lights went out.

With the lion’s share of the grid behind them, cars began piling into the stationary cars.

A third of the 30-car grid were left stranded on the grid and the race was quickly red-flagged.

“Race 2 of the Italian F4 Championship at Imola, part of the fifth round of the series, was suspended following an incident at the start that prevented the race from proceeding,” a category statement read.

“The race was red-flagged shortly after the start. All drivers involved in the incident are OK.

“In the evening, bulletin no. 1 issued by the Panel of Stewards officially confirmed the suspension of the race.

“The Federation will evaluate the possibility of rescheduling the race, which, if and when it takes place, will follow the original grid order and have a reduced duration of 25 minutes + 1 lap.

“The event will resume tomorrow, Sunday 3 August, with Race 3 scheduled to begin at 12:00 PM (30 minutes + 1 lap).”

Several penalties were handed out in the wake of the incident, including Maffia Racing’s Kornelia Olkucka who crashed into her teammate trying to avoid the chaos.

Olkucka was given a three-place grid penalty. Arthur Lorimier was given a six-place grid penalty and Javier Herrera was given an eight-place grid penalty.