MONZA, Italy, Sept ⁠6 (Reuters) - The Italian Formula One Grand Prix was ⁠halted on the fourth of 53 scheduled laps ‌on Sunday after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc crashed heavily at Parabolica.

The Monegasque appeared uninjured but shocked, extracting himself from the car and ​then sitting hunched on the ⁠grass behind the barriers.

Leclerc ⁠had started the race in third place with teammate Lewis ⁠Hamilton ‌alongside in fourth but the Briton tried to pass down the inside at the ⁠first corner, with the seven-time world champion ​forced wide ‌into the gravel and plunging to 11th place.

"Charles ⁠pushed me ​off," Hamilton complained over the radio, in an incident noted by stewards, before the home race -- in front of ⁠a record crowd at Monza -- suddenly ​turned into even more of a nightmare.

Television replays showed Leclerc, in fourth place but under pressure from McLaren's ⁠Oscar Piastri, had suffered wheelspin, touched the white line at the edge of the track and skewed off at speed at the end of lap two.

The ​safety car was deployed and ⁠then the red flags came out with the governing ​FIA saying it would be at ‌least 15 minutes before the ​restart as marshals fixed the tyre wall at Parabolica.

(Reporting by Alan BaldwinEditing by Christian Radnedge)