F1 Brazil qualifying postponed due to heavy rain

Qualifying for the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix has been postponed to Sunday due to a deluge of rain that hit the Interlagos circuit.

Rain began to fall half an hour before the qualifying session for Sunday’s grand prix was due to begin at 1500 local time.

The sprint race had run on Saturday morning in dry conditions, with McLaren’s Lando Norris winning ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri.

But between the sessions it began raining heavily over Sao Paulo, with the downpour accompanied by a large thunderstorm prompting race control to delay the start of qualifying indefinitely.

Some 20 minutes after the original start time of qualifying, the FIA sent out the medical car to probe the conditions while marshals were trying to clear water off the track, but there was still too much standing water to allow action to begin.

At 16:15 local time the rain began to intensify again, with the provisional start time of qualifying continuously assessed and pushed back with 15 minute intervals.

Marshals sweep water from the track

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

The latest update from the FIA pushed the start of qualifying at 17:00 local time if conditions were suitable, but Sao Paulo’s sunset time of 18:21 worked against the organisers’ efforts to get a qualifying session in the books, as it was the latest time the FIA was comfortable having cars running on-track.

At 16:45 local time race control finally decided to postpone the session, with the FIA now deciding on when it can organise a qualifying session on Sunday morning.

“The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours,”said a statement from the governing body. “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.”

If no session is able to take place on Sunday morning, it’s unclear at this stage how the grid would be set, which could be done by times set in FP1, Sprint qualifying or the Sprint race.