The F1 Brazil GP qualifying has been postponed to potentially Sunday morning after rain plays spoilsport despite waiting for hours.
After a hectic F1 Brazil GP sprint race which took place in dry conditions, rain started to spill in the build-up of main qualifying for Saturday afternoon. There was initial delay at a wet Interlagos. It continued to happen as the rain never relented.
Even if it eased off by a bit, it was still not safe enough with puddles at certain corners. And after two hours of wait, the FIA eventually decided together with F1 officials to postpone the Brazil GP qualifying, with the wish to run on Sunday morning before the grand prix.
“The Qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix is postponed,” a statement from the FIA read. “The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours. There is a lot of standing water on parts of the circuit which renders conditions unsafe.
“As much as we would all like to see competition on track, the safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority. A decision on a start time for Qualifying tomorrow morning will be taken as soon as possible.”
In case qualifying is not run on Sunday morning as well, the FP1 results may be taken up to decide the grid, which means Lando Norris will start on pole from George Russell and Oliver Bearman, whereas with the grid drop, Max Verstappen would be 20th.
UPDATE: To avoid the worst of the rain predicted, after consultation, the FIA stewards have decided that the qualifying on Sunday will take place at 7:30 AM local time, with the race pre-ponned to a 12:30 PM local time start.
Here’s how F1 Brazil GP sprint panned out