Formula E chaos as five cars trigger alarming red flag

Formula E's long-awaited return to China has hit an immediate speed bump, as five cars stopped on the circuit in the opening minutes of first practice. 

For its return to China – the first Formula E race was held in Beijing in 2014 – the all-electric series has gone to the Shanghai International Circuit, which recently hosted F1. 

Bizarrely, five cars all came to a sudden halt in the first sector of the lap completely on their own accord, triggering a sudden red flag. 

Both Porsches, ERTs and one Mahindra stopped on the circuit, with the cause of the stoppages unlikely to be discovered until the cars are plugged into the computers for the data to be viewed.

Being more specific, the impacted drivers were Pascal Wehrlein, Antonio Felix da Costa, Dan Ticktum, Sergio Sette Camara and Nyck de Vries. 

Da Costa and De Vries both managed to return to the pits following their stoppage, whilst both ERT cars and Wehrlein's remained stricken on the circuit. 

Porsche and Mahindra both informed RacingNews365 that the issue is yet to be discovered.

However, Andretti Formula E team principal Roger Griffiths told Formula E's broadcast that it looks like "some kind of battery or RESS issue", in regard to a recent update. 

It was later confirmed that the session would restart at 17:48 local time (10:48 BST). All 22 cars restarted the session following the 50-minute stoppage, after undergoing a software update.