Heavy rain made qualifying impossible in Japan. The FIA first delayed the session for 15 minutes, then 30, then 90 and finally postponed the session altogether.
Earlier today, the FIA had announced it had reserved the 10AM timeslot of Sunday’s schedule in case of necessity.
It was “raining buckets” all day in Suzuka and the drivers were the first to say there was no way they could drive in these conditions.
"I cannot even drive on the straight," complained Jaime Alguersuari after the final practice session.
The delayed session's necessity became obvious quite fast as the heavy rain looked nowhere near ready to stop on Saturday afternoon.
Drivers and teams still had to wait patiently for the FIA's decision. The lights fading earlier than expected, the decision to postpone would have been taken around 3:20PM rather than 4:30PM, as it was originally announced.
While the BBC stopped its coverage, the Virgin drivers were playing poker in their garage. When the decision was (finally) confirmed, Sebastian Vettel got out of his garage to applaud the massed grandstands.
"I hope they all turn up tomorrow for a busy day," added his colleague Heikki Kovalainen.
However, the postponed qualifying doesn’t mean the drivers will race on a dry track tomorrow. The Formula 1 circus is expecting a very damp track in the morning, which "will be interesting," thinks Ross Brawn.
The latest weather forecast shows that the heavy rain, which started shortly before morning practice, will become lighter rain into the night.
Taking into account all time zones considerations, the qualifying session of the Japanese Grand Prix will be presented at 10PM, Eastern Time, tonight, with the race itself scheduled for later in the night, at 1:50PM.
It remains to be confirmed whether or not any of Montreal's sports channels will present the qualifying session live tonight.
The Formula 1 regulation book includes no such thing as a time limit between qualifying and race.
Earlier today, the FIA had announced it had reserved the 10AM timeslot of Sunday’s schedule in case of necessity.
It was “raining buckets” all day in Suzuka and the drivers were the first to say there was no way they could drive in these conditions.
"I cannot even drive on the straight," complained Jaime Alguersuari after the final practice session.
The delayed session's necessity became obvious quite fast as the heavy rain looked nowhere near ready to stop on Saturday afternoon.
Drivers and teams still had to wait patiently for the FIA's decision. The lights fading earlier than expected, the decision to postpone would have been taken around 3:20PM rather than 4:30PM, as it was originally announced.
While the BBC stopped its coverage, the Virgin drivers were playing poker in their garage. When the decision was (finally) confirmed, Sebastian Vettel got out of his garage to applaud the massed grandstands.
"I hope they all turn up tomorrow for a busy day," added his colleague Heikki Kovalainen.
However, the postponed qualifying doesn’t mean the drivers will race on a dry track tomorrow. The Formula 1 circus is expecting a very damp track in the morning, which "will be interesting," thinks Ross Brawn.
The latest weather forecast shows that the heavy rain, which started shortly before morning practice, will become lighter rain into the night.
Taking into account all time zones considerations, the qualifying session of the Japanese Grand Prix will be presented at 10PM, Eastern Time, tonight, with the race itself scheduled for later in the night, at 1:50PM.
It remains to be confirmed whether or not any of Montreal's sports channels will present the qualifying session live tonight.
The Formula 1 regulation book includes no such thing as a time limit between qualifying and race.