Sao Paulo GP qualifying moved to Sunday after heavy rain

Qualifying at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix has been postponed until Sunday as a result of heavy rain.

Qualifying has been scheduled for 07:30 local time (10:30 UK) and the race moved forward by an hour and a half to 12:30 local (15:30 UK) because of the forecast of more wet weather on Sunday.

The qualifying session had been due to start at 15:00 local time (18:00 UK) on Saturday.

A decision was finally made at 16:45 local time, after a series of delays, that the track was too wet and conditions were not going to improve.

A joint statement from governing body the FIA and Formula 1 said: “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.”

The forecast of more heavy rain from mid-afternoon in Sao Paulo on Sunday led to the decision to bring the race start time forward.

That meant moving qualifying to an early start time in Brazil because rules mandate that there has to be a minimum of four hours between the end of qualifying and the start of the race.

The statement said the new timings would “ensure we maximise the chances of providing the fans with a day of racing action, given the weather forecast for Sunday afternoon, and both the FIA and F1 believe this time change is necessary and the right thing to do for all our passionate fans.”

An interview with F1 president Stefano Domenicali straight after qualifying, in which he was explaining the decision to postpone the session until Sunday, was interrupted by Lewis Hamilton, who said: “I want to go out. If you give us better wet tyres we’d be able to go out in this.”

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz said on X: “I’m sorry for the fans. They cheered relentlessly under the rain, but quali was impossible.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen heads into the grand prix leading McLaren’s Lando Norris by 44 points in the world championship.

Norris reduced his deficit by three points by winning Saturday’s sprint while Verstappen was classified fourth, dropping one place because of a time penalty for exceeding the permitted speed in a virtual safety car period.