Numerous cars were involved in a first-lap shunt which brought out the red flag in the Bern ePrix.
Pole-sitter Jean-Eric Vergne got a flying start as Sebastien Buemi challenged Mitch Evans for second place on the run down to the first chicane.
Behind the leading trio, Pascal Wehrlein found himself with nowhere to go through the tight switchback and slammed into the barrier, subsequently causing him to be nerfed from behind by Maxi Gunther.
Wehrlein’s Mahindra was jacked up on top of the Geox Dragon car, blocking the circuit while an accident involving his team-mate Jerome d’Ambrosio added to the damage.
The Belgian tipped Robin Frijns into a spin, with the latter facing backwards towards the onrushing pack.
Several cars managed to avoid the chaos by stopping on track before cutting the chicane while others including Daniel Abt and Andre Lotterer were jammed between the two incidents.
The remaining field picked their way through the debris as the red flags came out, lining up again on the start/finish straight before heading back to the pits under the safety car.
The race will restart with all drivers returning to their original grid positions, although Lucas di Grassi, Felipe Massa and Antonio Felix da Costa were all furious having picked their way through the carnage and passed the first timing line.
Wehrlein and Gunther initially appeared to have been demoted to the back of the field, although both appeared innocent victims of the smash with no way of avoiding contact.
All 22 cars will take the restart, with the order determined by the last point when the position of all cars could be verfieid (ie. the race start as the whole field did not cross the first timing line).
Vergne will remain focused on maximizing his points haul to extend his championship lead, with the Frenchman currently holding a seven-point advantage over Di Grassi.
The Audi driver started the race 19th on the grid but gained over 10 positions during the first-lap carnage and was understandably annoyed at being demoted down the order again.