Perez’s right-front wheel then appeared to get caught underneath his Force India which flipped his car. The former McLaren driver was prompt to inform his team he was “okay” before clambering out of his car.

The harrowing incident, which happened one hour into the 90-minute session, comes with the Formula One community mourning the loss of Jules Bianchi who died last Friday.

Friday’s session, the first on-track action since Bianchi succumbed to the devastating injuries he sustained at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, was immediately red flagged and a medical car was sent to the scene.

Perez was swiftly taken to the medical centre as a precaution but emerged waving to the grandstands.

“It was a really bad accident, pretty unlucky,” said Perez. “The track was dirty and I went on the astroturf and I collided on the other side of the track at a very bad angle, so it made the car roll over.

“But everything’s alright. It was a strange accident. I thought it was under control but the astroturf was very dirty which is why I went in the wall. We’ll have to check everything in detail.”