WATCH: Big Kubica crash brings out red flags in qualifying

Sunday morning qualifying was over before it had even really started for Robert Kubica, who stuffed his Williams into the Suzuka barriers coming out of the final corner at the beginning of Q1.

"A high price for a relatively small off," was how the Pole described the situation afterwards.

"Probably there were a few factors that contributed to this," Kubica added. "I put a rear wheel slightly off the track, missed the space and it was over – I was on the grass and the wall came quite quickly. As I say, there were a few factors that contributed, I don’t want to go too much into the details, but the whole story started already before qualifying..."

With his car suffering heavy damage, Williams were forced to change the Pole's chassis, meaning he'll start the Japanese Grand Prix from the pit lane, while they also changed Kubica's gearbox – meaning plenty of work for the team's mechanics ahead of the race...