Disaster was narrowly avoided during a Russian Formula 4 race after a safety car entered the track and stopped as the field approached.

The gobsmacking and terrifying scenes occurred during Sunday’s fourth and final race of the opening round of the Russian SMP F4 Series at Moscow Raceway.

Moments before the field approached, the safety car drove from the infield and onto the track before staggeringly coming to a complete stop on the racing line exiting a right-hand corner.

Despite failing to be alerted to the hazard by marshals, the race leader slammed on the brakes to avoid the safety car, causing the second-placed driver to ram into the back of his car.

A few cars further back, Marko Markozov took to the grass and gravel to avoid colliding with the safety car and was thankfully able to miss what could have been a catastrophic accident.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the worrying incident, which was shared across social media and quickly drew attention.

2024 F1 Academy drivers’ champion Abbi Pulling called for an investigation into the scary near-miss. 

“So lucky this didn’t end worse,” Pulling wrote on X. “Scary things like this can happen still in modern racing, I hope this is investigated properly in how they let this situation unfold.

“Glad everyone is ok.”

Ivan Pigaev, Timur Shagaliev, Maksim Orlov and Platon Kostin shared the victories across the opening weekend of the 24-race, six-round 2026 season.

Pigaev is the early championship leader on 61 points. 

F1 returns to action this weekend with the Canadian Grand Prix, which takes place between 22-24 May.