Sao Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying postponed to Sunday, race brought forward

As a result the only cars running on the track were the Safety Car and some track vehicles. The Safety Car kept doing the rounds to check the state of the track while the track vehicles were driving around trying to remove standing water at certain parts of the track.

Qualifying was initially planned for 15:00 local time but as the rain stubbornly went on, race control went on pushing the start by 15-minute intervals.

That is until there was no enough time to run run qualifying before the sunset at Interlagos after which F1 cars cannot run on the track that is not equipped with flood lights.

As a result, the qualifying was postponed for Sunday.

Formula One boss Stefano Domenicali said: "First of all, let me reiterate the fact these fans are incredible. We cannot control the weather. It's a pity but the conditions are not safe to drive.

"There's a problem of light that will very soon that will hit the track and that's unfortunately the situation we have to manage," he added.

Asked if qualifying will happen on Sunday, Domenicali responded: "Yes. That's the plan and the FIA will check on what is the right timings and to follow up the plan to complete the day.

"It's a great event and we need to make sure we can maximize everything in conditions that are acceptable."

After that, the FIA said in a statement: "The Qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix is postponed.

"The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours. There is a lot of standing water on parts of the circuit which renders conditions unsafe.

"As much as we would all like to see competition on track, the safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.

"A decision on a start time for Qualifying tomorrow morning will be taken as soon as possible."

The FIA later announced that qualifying will take place on Sunday morning, 7:30am local time, 10:30am GMT, or 11:30am CET.

The Grand Prix will also take place earlier as well at 12:30am local time. That is 3:30pm GMT and 4:30pm CET.

The statement said: "Following the conditions in São Paulo today 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.

"We have huge appreciation for all the fans that stayed at the circuit in hope of seeing cars on track today.

"Therefore the decision has been taken, after consultation with the stewards, to schedule Qualifying for 07:30 local time (10.30am UK) on Sunday morning ahead of the Grand Prix at 12:30 local (3.30pm UK).

"This will ensure we maximise the chances or providing the fans with a day of racing action and both the FIA and Formula 1 believe this time change is necessary and the right thing to do for all our passionate fans.

"We thank everyone for their patience today including the fans, drivers, teams, marshals, circuit staff and media and hope to give everyone an exciting event on Sunday," the statement concluded.