Qualifying has been moved to Sunday morning due to heavy rain in Sao Paulo.
Qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix was moved to Sunday due to torrential rain throughout Saturday afternoon at Interlagos.
In dry conditions, McLaren appear to have the edge over Red Bull and Ferrari; however, Max Verstappen demonstrated competitive pace in the F1 sprint.
The chances of a dry qualifying session are very slim, with the entirety of Sunday expected to be wet.
This could favour Verstappen, who has a five-place grid penalty and will be wanting to start as close to the front as possible.
Max Verstappen slammed the delay in bringing out the red flag for Lance Stroll’s crash following his own shock Q2 exit at the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver’s world championship hopes suffered a major blow on Sunday morning after he was eliminated in Q2 at Interlagos. It means he will start 17th.
He was already heading into the Sao Paulo weekend knowing he had a five-place grid penalty, as his battle with title rival Lando Norris intensified.
But with Sunday morning’s wet qualifying conditions looking like they could have offered him an opportunity to pull off a surprise against Norris, it all went wrong in the closing stages of the second qualifying segment.
Verstappen had failed to improve as the track conditions steadily got better through the final minutes and, after slipping down to 12th, he was caught out by a crash involving Lance Stroll as he attempted a final effort to get through.
With the yellow flags out as Verstappen passed the stricken Aston Martin at Turn 3, he had to back off – and he knew there would be no other attempt to make it through after the red flag was eventually brought out.
Aware of the implications of the stoppage, Verstappen gesticulated in the cockpit and expressed his frustration over the team radio as he knew that the session would not be restarted.
