Saturday qualifying postponed due to wet weather and is moved to Sunday

Credit: Andrew Ferraro

Following adverse wet weather conditions, Saturday's qualifying for the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix and would be re-arranged for Grand Prix Sunday.

This has been decided after heavy rain soaked the circuit and was relentless in doing so meaning the track was unsafe to go out qualifying and there being too high of a risk and danger factor to the track condition.

Track Marshals, event staff and the FIA all worked incredibly hard to try and find a way in which the cars could go qualifying on Saturday but with the significant amount of rain it just was not to be and the session would be postponed following two hours of delay.

Instead after consideration, Formula 1 will qualify on Sunday morning Brazil time ahead of the Grand Prix when the track is scheduled to have improved and will be much safer to run the session in the dry conditions. 

After an hour of consultation with event organisers, Niels Wittich the FIA Formula 1 race director, and the FIA members at the track, they have revised a plan for how the rest fof the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend is to unfold.

The qualifying has been re-scheduled for 7:30am Sunday morning local time, which will leave a five-hour gap between the qualifying and the Grand Prix as the FIA have also made the decision to bring the Grand Prix forward by 90 minutes with a new start time of 12:30 local time at Interlagos.

Therefore, for UK viewers, on Sunday morning the cars will go qualifying at 10:30am while the Grand Prix itself is to go lights out at 15:30.

In a statement released to the public, the FIA documented the reasons for why they had done so and documented the facts from their meeting.

The FIA said: "Following the conditins in Sao Paulo today the decision was taken to not proceed with Qualifying due to poor visibility, standing water on the track and fading light. Safety is always paramount consideration in such circumstances and while as much time as possible was given to allow conditions to improve they sadly did not.

"We have huge appreciation for all the fans that stayed at the circuit in the hope of seeing cars on track today."

The FIA's statement continued: "Therefore, the decision has been taken, after consultation with the Stewards, to schedule Qualifying for 07:30 local time on Sunday morning ahead of the Grand Prix at 12:30 local. 

"This will ensure we maximise the chances of providing fans with a day of racing action and both the FIA and Formula 1 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 media and hope to give everyone an exciting event on Sunday."

Formula 1 will hopefully still be able to get round 21 of the FIA Formula One World Championship completed with qualifying and the race to come on Grand Prix Sunday in what promises to be a very busy and exciting day of action.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal