The Brazilian GP qualifying faced unexpected delays on Saturday due to a storm hitting the city of Sao Paulo. While the sprint race ran in dry conditions earlier in the day, heavy rain, thunder, and lightning halted the feature race qualifying, which is now scheduled for Sunday morning.
Norris took the sprint race earlier on Saturday after he was aided by his teammate Oscar Piastri who let him past moments before the Virtual Safety car arrived. Max Verstappen, who started 4th on the grid, finished a respectable 3rd after overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on lap 17.
McLarens were expected to be the fastest in qualifying, but a late downpour meant that the session had to be postponed to Sunday morning, given the suitable conditions.
How will the starting grid be determined for the Brazilian Grand Prix?
There are no official FIA rules on setting the grid if qualifying cannot occur, though this will change in 2025. From 2025, grid positions will be based on the drivers’ championship standings. However, for this year’s Brazilian GP, the FIA has several options to consider. With an intense championship battle between Norris and Verstappen underway, the FIA will be focused on finding the fairest solution to proceed with the race.
The Safety Car showing just how wet it was out on track 😮#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/Jh9aVEpmVL
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 2, 2024
This weekend, two regulations could potentially apply to setting the grid when no qualifying times are available, though neither addresses the scenario of a qualifying session not taking place.
One perspective suggests that if qualifying is canceled and no times are set in Q1, then all drivers would be considered ‘unclassified,’ with the grid order defaulting to the results from P1 on a sprint weekend. This approach would place Lando Norris, the fastest in opening practice, on pole, while Max Verstappen would start 15th before incurring an additional five-place engine penalty.
However, not everyone agrees with this interpretation, as some believe that if qualifying is canceled but SQ1 has been completed, the wording of 39.4 suggests that any driver who completed a lap in sprint qualifying is considered ‘classified’. In such a case, Oscar Piastri will be handed the pole position in Sunday’s race.
Another option would be to use the final sprint race results, as it is the most recent session in which all 20 drivers competed. In this case, Norris, who won the race in a McLaren one-two with Oscar Piastri, would start on pole, with Charles Leclerc in third (due to Verstappen’s grid penalty).
How was the grid determined after the Suzuka washout in 2019?
A precedent for this scenario occurred at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, where heavy rain on Saturday morning forced qualifying to be postponed until Sunday. Amid concerns that qualifying might not happen at all, the stewards issued a notice outlining the procedure they would follow to set the grid without it.
This ISC rule grants the stewards full authority to “amend the Supplementary Regulations,” allowing them to determine how the grid is set.
In 2019 at Suzuka, they decided to use the second free practice times to form the grid, as Saturday’s sessions were entirely rained out. If Sunday’s qualifying doesn’t occur in Brazil, the stewards could again select a session to determine the grid order—most likely the sprint qualifying results.
However, they have the flexibility to choose any criteria they deem appropriate.
Mohd Faisal Hakak is a sports author from Kashmir. He likes to keep tabs on the sporting world with a keen interest in football, motorsports, NBA, and other marquee sports. He is a science graduate from Islamia College Srinagar.
