Yuki Tsunoda in lucky escape after horror crash sees F1 car fly through air at Imola GP

Qualifying for the was called to a halt after just six minutes following a terrifying high-speed crash. lost control on his first flying run and hit the barrier at speed which sent his flipping over.

Fortunately, when it landed it was back the right way around. And despite all the damage done to the car, Tsunoda was able to extract himself unaided and walked away from the wreckage.

He was picked up by the medical car, as is protocol for any crash which is registered as having put enough force through the driver. A Red Bull spokesperson confirmed Tsunoda has been taken to the medical centre for checks.

Team-mate immediately asked his race engineer over the radio whether the Japanese racer was hurt. Gianpiero Lambiase confirmed to him, and to the fans watching TV coverage, that he had not suffered any obvious significant injuries.

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, who was replaced at Red Bull by Tsunoda earlier this season, radioed his engineer from his car to also ask about Tsunoda's condition. "Oh my god, I just saw the video," the Kiwi said, having spotted a replay of the crash on one of the large screens dotted around the track.

The session was immediately red-flagged when the crash happened. That allowed the medical car to reach the site of the accident swiftly and also for the marshals to begin the clean-up work with debris strewn across the gravel and a tyre wall which needed to be fixed.

Q1 was allowed to resume at 4.20pm local time, just 14 minutes after the crash, thanks to the quick work of those marshals and those who extracted the stricken car. And there were only four drivers now in danger of falling at the first hurdle in qualifying with Tsunoda condemned to start Sunday's race at the very back of the grid.

Franco Colapinto was one of them as he too crashed out in Q1, losing control of his on his final flying lap attempt. He apologised over the radio having not given a great first impression in his maiden outing with the team, having replaced Jack Doohan for this event.

It also led to farcical scenes as qualifying was delayed again while they tried to figure out who had been eliminated at the end of Q1. Britain's was 19th on the timesheets according to the FIA who initially ruled that he had not completed his final lap when the red flags came out.

But video evidence seemed to contradict that and so the start of Q2 was delayed while race control reviewed the matter, following a complaint from his Haas team. Despite a further stoppage of more than 10 minutes, when qualifying resumed Bearman remained in the garage while Gabriel Bortoleto, who would have been knocked out if the Brit was saved, took to the track, meaning the Haas driver was out.