brisk start to draw alongside pole sitter Carbone on the inside into Reservoir Bend corner. Briscoe took the lead after touching wheels with Carbone. However, Briscoe kept the lead for a short while as he carried excess speed approaching Lisboa turn and ran wide, allowing Carbone back through. Lapierre and Courtney used the situation to claim second and third from Briscoe. Further down the order, Kaffer tried to pass Montin on the inside but hit a barrier on the outside. As Kaffer ricocheted across the track, Rosberg rolled over one of the stricken vehicles and rested upside down on the circuit. Parente also got caught up in the incident and retired. Watts then sustained front wing damage but returned to the pit lane for a replacement nose cone before retiring a lap later. Because of the wreckage, the safety car was deployed to allow a crane to remove all the stricken cars. The safety car remained on the circuit until the start of the third lap. Lapierre immediately challenged his teammate Carbone, which caused Carbone's right-side front wing endplate to break and launch into the air. Lapierre consequently took the lead new leader by passing Carbone into Lisboa corner and Courtney followed suit. Carbone then fell behind Briscoe who moved to fourth and Antinucci challenged him. In the meantime, Austin moved to 13th after starting 25th. Upfront, Lapierre withstood pressure from Courtney and responded by setting what was at that point the race's fastest lap, a circuit of 2 minutes and 15.704 seconds on the fifth lap. Courtney was not disconcerted by Lapierre and overtook him on the outside at Lisboa corner for the lead on lap six. Meanwhile, Kataoka passed Doornbos and Hamilton overtook Kubica. Katoka and Hamilton gained another position on lap seven when a frustrated Briscoe collided with Carbone in an attempt to pass for third due to Carbone braking earlier at Lisboa corner and spun. Carbone continued but Briscoe was stuck in Lisboa turn's escape road where he was trying to restart his car and Antinucci moved into third. Kataoka was now duelling Carbone but an error in traffic trying to overtake Carbone into Lisboa turn forced him to abandon the duel and driving onto the escape road to avoid hitting Carbone. Katoka was now pressured by Hamilton who overtook Doornbos on lap nine but re-passed him at Lisboa corner on the final lap before Doornbos'