chris: it's more disappointing for the fans , to watch a procession behind a safety car for lap after lap, and not a real race! Call it off, give them back their money and hold the race at a descent time next year

Simon Baker: I'm getting Adelaide 1991 vibes. On that day, similar weather concerns, race did briefly get going, but car after car aquaplaned off and eventually the cars were brought to a halt and after 3 10 minute boards held out, the red flag was held out, stopping it

Alex Albon was another retirement at the start of this chaotic Japanese Grand Prix and the Williams driver told Sky Sports earlier that although he had a failure with his car, he also didn't escape contact in the tricky conditions.

"The side of the car got hit and it's just one of those things - we were out," says Albon.

"I don't really understand why we went racing to begin with. We couldn't see 10 metres in front of us, at most. The cars at the back, we were kind of just going left to right as we couldn't see where the track was.

"I couldn't see on track and obviously I touched with another car. It's a tricky one but that's how it is."

Sam Bird
Formula E driver on BBC Radio 5 Live

The plan is to hope the rain dies down a bit then reassess. Newsflash. It's really wet and the cars are not capable of driving in these conditions. It's not changing, this weather is set in. My concern is we have seen all the running we are going to see today. My head is telling me that is the case.

Verstappen's title chances recedingpublished at 07:44 British Summer Time 9 October 2022

07:44 BST 9 October 2022

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Chances of Max Verstappen becoming world champion again this weekend are receding by the second. Points scenarios here for various race distances, remember he needs to gain eight points on Charles Leclerc and six on Sergio Perez to seal it.

Jack Nicholls
BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

With the time left on the clock, we are not in a position where 75% of the race distance can be run today, so we are at the point now where Max Verstappen cannot win the driver's title today.

Countdown beginspublished at 07:35 British Summer Time 9 October 2022

07:35 BST 9 October 2022

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We've now reached the second hour of a three-hour window at the Japanese Grand Prix, so the race clock has started up again after being stopped when the red flag was brought out.

The cut-off point is 09:00 BST. Race control is running out of time to get this race under way again.

Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 Live pit-lane reporter

Jules Bianchi's father Phillipe Bianchi has been on social media. He said: "No respect for the life of the driver. No respect for Jules' memory. Incredible."

It is a very difficult situation for these drivers to be in. A lot of them were very good friends with Jules and they have just driven past a recovery vehicle on track.

Andrew Priestley: Unacceptable decision-making from the race director to allow a recovery vehicle onto the track while cars were still lapping the circuit and not part of the train behind the safety car. That’s before you even consider the weather conditions causing almost zero visibility.

Pierre Gasly has been summoned to the stewards for speeding under red flag conditions.

"Car 10 reached speeds of up to 250 km/h when completing the lap under the red flag after passing the scene of the incident."

There's some points permutations in play today, so we're going to break them down for you.

If the leader has completed two laps but less than 25% of the scheduled race distance, reduced points will be awarded down to fifth place (see column 1 below)

If the leader has completed 25% but less than 50% of the scheduled race distance, points will be awarded in accordance with column 2.

If the leader has completed 50% but less than 75% of the scheduled race distance, points will be awarded in accordance with column 3.

The main headline in all this is that reduced points in any scenrio greatly hinders Max Verstappen's hopes of winning the title today...

Image source, FIA

Red flagpublished at 07:21 British Summer Time 9 October 2022

07:21 BST 9 October 2022

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The Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu was also a twirling car out on track as the Chinese driver dropped from 14th spot to P17 halfway through the opening lap.

Image source, Getty Images

Red flagpublished at 07:19 British Summer Time 9 October 2022

07:19 BST 9 October 2022

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The replays again of the race start show just how frightening conditions on the Suzuka track were as the drivers set off for this 53-lap grand prix. The onboard from Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren in 11th place shows Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel just in front disappearing into a vacuum of spray.

Jennie Gow
BBC Radio 5 Live pit-lane reporter

The FIA have confirmed that the incident with Pierre Gasly will be investigated after the race. The stewards will sit down and look at what happened with Gasly on track. I will be fascinated to see what they say. Whether they are just investigating Gasly for doing something wrong is my fear, not actually looking at the incident in it's entirety.

Gasly and recovery vehicle on track will be investigatedpublished at 07:14 British Summer Time 9 October 2022

07:14 BST 9 October 2022

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

The incident with Gasly and the recovery vehicle on track will be investigated after the race by the stewards. Doubtless they will look at why the vehicle was on track, but also the speed Gasly was doing at the time and whether it was appropriate.