Jules Bianchi crash: F1 drivers say conditions weren't too bad

The Suzuka F1 race was stopped with nine laps to run after Bianchi's Marussia struck a vehicle that was recovering Adrian Sutil's crashed Sauber before the Degner turns.

The French driver was taken unconscious to hospital following the accident, which occurred as rain intensified and light faded.

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas said the conditions were "on the limit" for stopping the race, but not particularly bad compared to previous wet races.

"I'm not the one to judge if it was good to go anymore or not - the whole race was tough, especially the beginning and end of the race," Bottas said.

"I think there have been more difficult track conditions than this. It's just a difficult track in the wet.

"Until then, there was nothing special happening. I think it was just a really, really unlucky situation."

Fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen agreed conditions were "tricky", but not unusually so.

"Was it safe? Is it safe ever? You cannot say," Raikkonen said. "Sometimes it doesn't matter.

"At the beginning of the race behind the safety car we drive 100kph and you could aquaplane, so even if you slow down you might get into trouble.

"If there's too much water you can go off - simple as that."

Race winner Lewis Hamilton also reckoned he had raced in worse conditions than those seen in the closing stages of Sunday's race.

"They weren't really that bad - I've had much worse races in terms of aquaplaning," Hamilton said.

"It started really bad and got quite intense, and then when we went back out [after the first red flag early in the race] it was good.

"Towards the end it started to rain a bit more, [but] it wasn't causing me any problems particularly.

"It's so easy to lose temperature in these tyres if you slow down a bit, and then it's really difficult."

World champion Sebastian Vettel said Bianchi had been unfortunate to go off at one of the most difficult places on the circuit in the wet.

"It was very unlucky timing and an unlucky position to lose the car," he said.

"It's one of the most tricky places; you are still cornering and you pick up speed.

"In these conditions with more water the car is very nervous and it's very easy to do a mistake."