Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying postponed after heavy rain at Interlagos – Irvine Times

Qualifying was due to start at 15:00 local time – around three hours after Norris cut Max Verstappen’s championship lead from 47 points to 44 after winning the sprint.

But heavy rain at Interlagos caused running delays until the decision was finally made at 16:45 to move qualifying back to Sunday morning, ahead of the 71-lap Grand Prix.

The session will now take place at 7.30am local time (10.30am GMT), while the race itself has also been moved forward to 12.30pm (3.30am GMT) due to concerns about bad weather.

A joint statement from Formula 1 and the FIA ​​read: “Following the conditions in Sao Paulo today, the decision was taken not to continue qualifying due to poor visibility, standing water on the track and fading light.

“Safety is always the most important consideration in such circumstances and although as much time as possible was given to allow conditions to improve, they unfortunately did not. A huge thank you goes out to all the fans who stayed at the track in hopes of seeing cars on the track today.

“It was therefore decided, in consultation with the stewards, that qualifying be scheduled for 07:30 local time on Sunday morning before the Grand Prix at 12:30 local time. This will ensure we maximize the chances or provide fans with a day of racing action and both the FIA ​​and F1 believe this time change is necessary and the right thing to do for all our passionate fans.

“We thank everyone for their patience today, including the fans, drivers, teams, marshals, circuit staff and the media, and we look forward to giving everyone an exciting event on Sunday.”

The decision to postpone qualifying was met with disappointment by some drivers.

“It’s ridiculous, we have to get out,” Lewis Hamilton told Stefano Domenicali as the F1 executive was interviewed. “I want out. If you give us better wet tires with blankets, we’ll be able to ride in this.”

Domenicali said: “We cannot control the weather. It’s a pity, but the conditions are not safe to ride, there is also a problem with the light. The plan is for tomorrow morning and the FIA ​​is completing the final checks on what time qualifying will be.”

The postponement came after it emerged that the FIA ​​had been asked by Red Bull to look into allegations that Norris’ McLaren team had gained an unfair advantage by injecting small amounts of water into their tire valves to keep their tire cool from the inside during at the races – something that is forbidden.

McLaren has denied the allegation and the FIA ​​has not commented on the matter.

In the earlier sprint race, Norris was able to take three points off Verstappen’s lead after Polish pole-sitter Oskar Piastri obeyed orders from the McLaren team to pull to the side with two-and-a-half laps remaining.

Verstappen crossed the line third, but in a further boost to Norris’ championship hopes, he was later demoted one place after serving a five-second post-race penalty from the stewards following an infringement under the Virtual Safety Car on the final lap.

Verstappen was judged to have been too close to Piastri on the restart as they battled for second.

It marked back-to-back weekends in which Verstappen faced the wrath of the stewards after his combined 20-second penalty for pushing Norris off the track twice in Mexico City.

Verstappen’s penalty preserves momentum in the Norris camp, with the Dutchman also having to make up for a five-place drop in the standings for Sunday’s race.

After Piastri covered Norris on the descent to the first turn, attention turned to when the Australian would be moved out of his team-mate’s way.

The instruction finally arrived from McLaren on lap 22 of 24 when Piastri gave Norris room before turn four to complete the move.

“I’m not proud of it,” Norris said. “Oscar deserved it (the win) but we did what we had to do, so thanks to him and the team.

“We are fighting for the constructors’ championship and the drivers’ championship. And we want to help the team achieve both goals.

“From a driver’s point of view, I’m not proud to win a race like I did today. We want to avoid it as much as we can.

“But we both signed up for it. We work as a team, we are told to do, we both have a boss and we work as hard as we can to help each other.”

Piastri added: “It’s not as fun as winning, but I know the position we’re in. We’ve been talking about this for months and this is the first time we’ve had to enforce it.

“I would have preferred to win, but the race is a sprint and I have nothing to fight for in the drivers’ standings. We knew this could and probably would happen and I’m fine with that.