The Brazilian Grand Prix stewards will decide how to determine the starting order for Sunday’s race if qualifying cannot go ahead.
Saturday’s grand prix qualifying session has been postponed until Sunday morning due to heavy rain at the Interlagos track. However with another prolonged downpour forecast on Sunday, there is a possibility the qualifying session cannot take place before the grand prix.
Formula 1’s course of action should be clearer if at least part of the qualifying session is completed, as precedent exists for this. Bad weather at the 2015 United States Grand Prix prevented Q3 from taking place, so the times from Q1 and Q2 set the grid. F1 therefore does not need to hold an entire qualifying session to set its grid.
If qualifying begins but is abandoned before drivers set any times, a mechanism exists for the stewards to use the times from first practice to decide the grid. The sporting regulations state that “drivers who are unclassified” if they “failed to set a time in Q1” will be “allocated the top positions in accordance with the order they were classified in [first practice].”
On the face of it, this particular case seems unlikely. However note that during first practice for the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this year, part of the session took place while the pit lane exit light was red, meaning no drivers could join the track to take part. Therefore race control has an option open to them if they need to declare a qualifying session has at least started without sending drivers onto the track in unsafe conditions.
Formula 1’s sporting regulations do not specify a course of action if qualifying does not take place. On the face of it, this is surprising, as a qualifying session has already taken place this weekend, for the sprint race. However there is no provision in the rules for it to automatically be used as a fallback in the event the grand prix qualifying session does not happen.
An FIA spokesperson confirmed to RaceFans that, if qualifying cannot go ahead, the stewards will determine which method is used to determine the grid.
This would be a contentious decision for them under any circumstances, and all the more so given the championship situation. If they choose to use the sprint race qualifying results – surely the most logical option – Lando Norris would line up second again and Max Verstappen, after his five-place grid penalty, ninth. Using the first practice session to determine the grid would not go down well at Red Bull as Norris was quickest and Verstappen 15th after abandoning his run on soft tyres, meaning he would start the grand prix from last place.
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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