Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying postponed after heavy rain at Interlagos

The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility, organisers said. 

Heavy rain caused qualifying to be postponed (Andre Penner/AP)

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 Qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix is postponed.

The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours. There is a lot of standing water on parts of the circuit which renders conditions unsafe.

As…

— FIA (@fia) November 2, 2024

A statement from the governing FIA read: “The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours.

“There is a lot of standing water on parts of the circuit which renders conditions unsafe.

“As much as we would all like to see competition on track, the safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.”

“This is ridiculous, we should go out,” Lewis Hamilton told Stefano Domeincalli 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.”

Heading out to see the fans. Sorry we couldn’t get out there for Qualifying.

Hopefully we can put on a great show tomorrow for you 🙏 pic.twitter.com/oizffrIs4o

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 2, 2024

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’s raining. pic.twitter.com/lJGP7OP8us

— Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) November 2, 2024

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.

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 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.”