A delay in the start of Qualifying for the main race on Sunday was announced 20 minutes before the starting time due to weather conditions at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, as torrential rain fell down the circuit at Interlagos in São Paulo.
The penultimate Sprint Race of the season took place in Interlagos, a McLaren 1-2 that showed the team ordering Oscar Piastri to swap places with Norris ended with the Briton on top, as Verstappen finished P3 but faced a five-second penalty for VSC infringement promoting Leclerc to the last step of the Sprint podium and demoting the Dutchman to P4.
After almost three hours of waiting and expecting an improvement in the track conditions, it was confirmed at 16:50 pm local time—as the sun was starting to set in a cloudy sky and visibility decreased considerably at the circuit—that Qualifying is officially postponed.
An announcement from the FIA would be expected with the intention of Qualifying taking place on Sunday morning. However, the racing schedule is tight. The day kicks off at 08:45 with the Porsche Carrera Cup Brazil and continues with F4 Brazilian Championship activity before the F1 race takes place at 14:00 local time.
The sporting regulations don’t explicitly address a situation where Qualifying cannot take place at all. However, Article 39.4(b) implies the possibility of the order from the first practice session being used to set the grid if drivers haven’t set a time in Q1.
“Drivers who are unclassified because of conditions (i) or (ii) will be allocated the top positions in accordance with the order they were classified in P3 (or, in the case a Sprint Session is scheduled, P1).”
With this consideration, Norris, Russell, and Bearman in the Haas would take the top three spots on the starting grid. Having ended P15 in FP1 but grabbing a 5-position grid penalty, Verstappen could start P20, alongside Zhou and Pérez, who would be P18, and Lewis Hamilton, P16.
It has been agreed qualifying will take place on Sunday morning at 07:30am local time, with the race due off 5 hours later, moved forward by 90 minutes as the forecast for tomorrow is not looking great.
