Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying is POSTPONED due to torrential rain and lightning in Sao Paulo – with severe weather affecting Sunday’s race time
- Qualifying would take place on Saturday evening after the sprint race
- After the sprint, Lando Norris had closed the gap to Max Verstappen to 44 points
- The FIA hopes pre-race qualifying can be rescheduled
Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was canceled on Saturday afternoon due to extreme weather conditions around the circuit in Brazil.
Lando Norris hopes to close the gap with Max Verstappen even further after finishing second in Mexico last weekend, while Verstappen was dropped to sixth place after two penalties in the race.
He benefited from winning the sprint race earlier in the day ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, with Verstappen finishing fourth due to another penalty for speeding under the virtual safety car.
But the weather deteriorated as the day progressed and lightning was also present, as well as light loss despite the officials’ best efforts to clear the track and prepare it for qualifying at Interlagos.
Shortly afterwards, the governing body, the FIA, confirmed the rescheduled timing, with qualifying taking place on Sunday at 10.30am and the Grand Prix being held at 3.30pm.
Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions
Staff and teams had to sweep away the rain to try and get the track ready for competition
Lando Norris (left) and Max Vertappen (right) battle for the drivers’ championship
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur told Sky Italy when the weather hit: ‘I think we have to get up quite early tomorrow morning for qualifying.
‘It’s raining heavily and I don’t know what the condition of the asphalt is. If it rains well, but we already have some lakes in some corners, it will be difficult.’
Norris is currently 44 points behind Verstappen, but must close the gap quickly with only four races left in the season.
He appears to have the better car at the moment, but the hard work was done by Verstappen earlier this season when he won seven races, while Norris has only won three so far.
The Briton could have built on the momentum from the sprint race with qualifying shortly afterwards, but the rain and lightning did not allow that.
The qualifying session was postponed several times throughout the day in the hope that enough work could be done to get the session underway.
A number of videos were shared on social media of the weather conditions, which proved too extreme for competition.
The qualifying session was postponed repeatedly throughout the day until it was called off
Qualifying is now scheduled for 9am local time, although heavy rain is also scheduled for Sunday and could have a huge impact on the race.
Just before 5pm local time, FIA race director Niels Wittich made the call to postpone the session in the hope that conditions would be better on Sunday.
The race still starts on Sunday at 5pm GMT – 2pm local time.