WATCH: Multi-car first-lap crash wipes out Verstappen and Gasly in Mugello

The first ever Tuscan Grand Prix at Mugello got off to a dramatic start, with multiple drivers involved in collisions on the opening lap and two drivers – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and last week’s race winner Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri – knocked out the race altogether.

As Valtteri Bottas jumped Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton at the start, Max Verstappen - starting third - was quickly swallowed up by the pack as his car appeared to lack power.

The closely bunched field made it successfully around Turn 1, but at Turn 2 there were at least two separate accidents. First Carlos Sainz’s McLaren was spun around by Lance Stroll’s Racing Point, with an unfortunate Sebastian Vettel collecting the orange car and losing his front wing.

Behind, Gasly found himself sandwiched between Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo and Haas’s Romain Grosjean. As they approached the left hander contact was made, with Raikkonen then running into the back of Verstappen and spinning him around.

A Safety Car was quickly called as Verstappen and Gasly’s cars were recovered from the gravel and those with damage retreated to the pits – but there was even more drama to follow shortly afterwards at the re-start…