Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying is DELAYED as a major FIA decision is expected

Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix has been delayed after heavy rain hit the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo. The FIA ​​is expected to postpone the meeting until Sunday.

Qualifying was scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time before heavy rain hit the Interlagos circuit, forcing the FIA ​​to postpone the session around 20 minutes before the session was due to begin.

The FIA ​​is expected to postpone qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix until Sunday

In conversation with Heaven Italy During the delay, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur indicated that qualifying would likely take place on Sunday morning as more rain was expected in the area on Saturday.

He said: “I think we'll have to get up pretty early for qualifying tomorrow morning.”

When asked if he was sure that qualifying would not take place on Saturday, he replied: “No, but it is raining heavily and I don't know what it looks like on the asphalt and whether it is raining properly, but we have in some Curves already some lakes. “It will be difficult.”

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Due to weather delays, qualifying has had to take place on Sundays in recent years, with qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix taking place on race morning three times in the last two decades (2004, 2010, 2019).

At the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, qualifying also took place on a Sunday morning after a retirement on Saturday.

The qualifying delay came after a thrilling sprint race at Interlagos in which Lando Norris triumphed after McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri obeyed an instruction to swap positions.

Norris received a further boost after the race with the news that Red Bull driver and F1 2024 title rival Max Verstappen had been hit with a five-second retrospective penalty for a Virtual Safety Car breach.

It emerged that Verstappen had exceeded his minimum delta time at the end of the VSC after overtaking Piastri at Turn 4 just before the race officially resumed.

By adding an additional five seconds to his race time, Verstappen fell to fourth place in the official rankings, behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

It means Verstappen's lead over Norris in the world championship has shrunk to 44 points with four races remaining in the 2024 F1 season.

Read more: Oscar Piastri at the center of the cheeky Lando Norris moment after Brazil's sprint victory