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Brazilian GP qualifying never got underway as continuous and heavy rain turned the track into a river. After repeated postponements, and as it began to get dark in Sao Paulo, the stewards decided to postpone them to tomorrow morning.
Already before the scheduled time of qualifying tests, at 20:00 (Greece time), it had started to rain very heavily, with lightning and thunder, on the Interlagos circuit.
The rain eased and intensified at intervals, but the conditions never looked safe for the cars to take to the track.
So, after almost two hours, the referees announced that they are postponed, and now we are waiting for the official announcement for tomorrow (3/11), as well as for the time they will start.
The official FIA statement reads: “Sao Paulo GP Qualifying Tests Postponed. H decision was made due to the lack of visibility caused by the intensity of the rain we have faced in the last few hours. There are many spots on the track with standing water, which makes the conditions dangerous.
As much as we would all like to see racing action on the track, the safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our top priority. A decision on the start time of the Qualifying Trials tomorrow morning will be made as soon as possible.”
Although the midday Sprint race was held in sunshine, half an hour before the scheduled start of qualifying at Interlagos at 15:00 local time (20:00 Greek time), torrential rain began to fall.
The FIA allowed the teams to close their garages as the rain soon intensified and turned into a thunderstorm. For the next two hours, the FIA sent the Safety Car and the Medical Vehicle to check the track conditions while the organizers tried to remove the standing water from the tarmac.
The rain eased briefly, leaving hope for qualifying to be held, but at 16:15 (local time) it intensified again, prompting marshals to make successive 15-minute postponements of the estimated qualifying start time.
The latest update from the FIA set the start at 17:00 local time (22:00 Greek time), conditions permitting. As the sun would set in Sao Paulo at 18:21, this was the last postponement before the final decision to reschedule the qualifiers for tomorrow (3/11).
In the end, this decision came from the referees shortly before 17:00 (local time), i.e. shortly before the end of the two hours from the original start time. The marshals will soon announce tomorrow’s qualifying test time.
In the event that the weather does not permit tomorrow either, the standings of either Free Practice or Friday’s Sprint Qualifying will be used for the GP starting order. This will be determined in the race course announcement.
We remind you that the last time qualifying tests were postponed – due to weather – to Sunday was at the 2019 Japanese GP.
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