Carlos Sainz Jr's car burst into flames at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, meaning the race was delayed by 15 minutes and the start was postponed.
The Spanish racer was told it was "game over" on the radio, indicating his race was run before it had even started.
The Williams driver failed to start on the grid, and then had a terminal brake fire once back in the garage.
Sainz's rear brakes both caught fire at the end of the pit lane.
Both rear brakes for Carlos Sainz Jr caught fire in the pit lane
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His mechanics attended the scene with extinguishers to put it out, but they were unable to prevent the Spaniard from retiring from the race.
Fans were quick to draw parallels between Sainz's 2022 race in Austria, where his car also set on fire.
The Spaniard was about to challenge Max Verstappen for second place at the time, when his engine went up in smoke with 15 laps to go.
Carlos Sainz's car failed to start for the formation lap meaning the start had to be aborted
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Sky Sports F1 commentator Karun Chandhok said: "That is such a deflating moment for the drivers. I had that a couple times in my career.
"You do all your pre-race prep then something goes wrong. It's like a massive balloon that just goes pop, not just for Sainz but all of the engineers."
Fernando Alonso, who is starting the race in 11th said over the team radio: "I cannot tell you the temperature of the seat. It's maybe, I don't know, 200 degrees."
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The race restarted 15 minutes later without Sainz.
McLaren's Lando Norris started the race in pole position, looking to right his wrongs after crashing into team mate Oscar Piastri at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Piastri started the afternoon in third on the grid, but overtook Ferrari drivcer Charles Leclerc in the opening moments to give McLaren both spots at the top.
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The Spaniard's car then set on fire, just as it did in 2022 in the same race
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Elsewhere, Kimi Antonelli crashed into the back of Verstappen, who was chasing his 32nd consecutive points haul, forcing both to retire.
Piastri and Norris are set to battle it out at the top, with their Red Bull rival now out of the proceedings.
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