Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying postponed after heavy rain at Interlagos

Lando Norris will be made to wait to discover if he starts Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position after qualifying was postponed due to heavy rain in Interlagos.

Qualifying had been due to start at 3pm local time – some three hours after Norris reduced Max Verstappen’s championship lead from 47 points to 44 after he won the sprint race.

But a heavy downpour in Interlagos saw the running delayed, until the decision was finally taken at 4:45pm to move qualifying back to Sunday morning, before 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 brought forward to 12.30pm (3.30pm GMT) due to concerns over poor weather.

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

“Safety is always the 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 hope of seeing cars on track today.

“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 or providing the fans with a day of racing action and both the FIA and Formula One 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.”

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

“This is ridiculous, we should go out,” Lewis Hamilton told Stefano Domenicali as the F1 CEO was being interviewed. “I want to go out. If you give us better wet tyres with blankets we would be able to run in this.”

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

The postponement came after it emerged the FIA has been requested by Red Bull to look into claims that Norris’ McLaren team have gained an unfair advantage by injecting small amounts of water into their tyre valves to keep their rubber cool from the inside during the races – something that is forbidden.

McLaren have denied the accusation, and the FIA are not commenting on the matter.

In the earlier sprint race, Norris was able to take three points out of Verstappen’s lead after pole man Oscar Piastri obeyed a McLaren team order to move aside with two-and-a-half laps remaining.

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

Verstappen was adjudged to have been too close to Piastri at the re-start as they duelled for second position.

It marked consecutive weekends where Verstappen has faced the wrath of the stewards following his combined 20-second penalty for pushing Norris off the track twice in Mexico City.

Verstappen’s sanction keeps the momentum in Norris’ camp with the Dutch driver also due to serve a five-place grid drop for Sunday’s race.

After Piastri covered off Norris on the downhill run to the opening corner, the attention turned to when the Australian would be ushered out of his team-mate’s way.

The instruction finally arrived from McLaren on lap 22 of 24 as Piastri provided Norris with room ahead of the fourth corner to complete the move.

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

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

“From a driver’s point of view, I am 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 this. We work as a team, we get told to do, we both have a boss, and we work as hard as we can to help each other.”

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

“I would have preferred to have won but it is a sprint race and I don’t have much to fight for in the drivers’ standings. We knew this could, and probably would happen, and I am fine with it.”