F1 star Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided a major crash at the start of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
As the lights went out, Alpine driver Colapinto, who qualified in 16th, attempted to get off the line as quickly as he could.
However, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who began in eighth, suffered a problem with his engine and the New Zealander struggled to launch off the grid.
Lawson had barely moved and Colapinto suddenly appeared behind his fellow driver and looked set to crash into him.
Incredibly, the Argentine weaved to the right and then to the left to avoid crashing into both Lawson and the wall.
Colapinto ended up coming 14th, with Lawson recovering to 13th after he later confirmed that he had ‘lost all power’ at the start.
Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided a major crash at the start of the Australian Grand Prix
Reflecting on the scary incident after the race, Colapinto said: ‘At the start we almost had a massive shunt with Liam as he got stuck on the grid and I was really lucky to go through that lap one. I was really, really lucky.’
The reactions of George Russell, Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc to the incident also quickly went viral.
As the trio watched back the highlights of the race in the green room, they could be heard to say ‘woah’ before one of them started swearing in shock.
Elsewhere, former F1 driver Anthony Davidson couldn’t believe how quickly Colapinto reacted when he spoke on Sky Sports’ review of the race.
‘Wow. It’s like he’s got cat-like reactions here,’ he said. ‘I mean if I now play it in slow motion watch what he does on the wheel.
‘How on earth he avoided the rear wheel and the wall is beyond me. It’s amazing. I could watch that a thousand times over. I’ll never get over that.
‘How there wasn’t a crash there. I mean, we all expected some poor getaways, but wow he was completely blinded by what happened there with poor old Liam Lawson.’
Former world champion Jenson Button added: ‘The amazing thing is you don’t see it until he’s on top of the car. How does he slow it down so much? I mean, from a driver’s point of view, I don’t know how that just happened.
‘That was proper scary. Hopefully that’s the last time we see that.’
Several fans also chipped in to praise Colapinto for his reactions.
One said: ‘That was dangerously close! Best move Colapinto has done since he came to F1.’
Another added: ‘That was an incredible reaction. Catlike!’
A further supporter then chipped in with: ‘What a save.’
An extra fan said: ‘Omg that car came out of nowhere! What a reaction,’ before a final user quipped: ‘That is an incredible save from Colapinto, some other words may have came out of my mouth when i first saw it live on TV.’