For the sixth time in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship, the qualifying session could not be run as planned. Rain hit Interlagos in the early afternoon, with the track too wet for several hours before the lack of visibility as darkness approached ended any chance of the cars going out on track. It meant that the Race Director had no option but to postpone the session until tomorrow. It’s a scenario that already occurred in Japan in 2004, 2010 and 2019, in Australia in 2013 and in the United States in 2015. Thankfully, today, was not a complete washout for the thousands of fans in the grandstands at the Jose Carlo Pace circuit, because the Sprint race was able to go ahead as planned. Scuderia Ferrari HP picked up ten points, courtesy of a third place for Charles Leclerc and a fifth for Carlos Sainz.
Sprint race. The 100 kilometre race did not produce much change in the order compared to the grid positions. The McLaren pair took off in the lead, ahead of a DRS train of cars, before they switched Oscar Piastri’s and Lando Norris’ positions with three laps remaining. Charles had a normal start and was third for most of the race until a mistake at turn 1 allowed Max Verstappen to close and pass him on lap 18. The Monegasque therefore crossed the finish line in fourth place, ahead of Carlos. However, after the race, Verstappen was given a 5 second penalty for a Virtual Safety Car-related penalty on the final lap, which promoted Charles back to third. The team thus collected 10 points, the second best score behind McLaren on 15.
Weather. The plan is to try and hold qualifying tomorrow morning, even if there is still a chance of rain. The Grand Prix is due to start, as normal at 14.00 local (18.00 CET) over a distance of 71 laps.
Charles Leclerc #16
It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t go ahead with qualifying today, with the track being too wet and the visibility too compromised to carry out a session on track. Most of all, it’s a shame for the fans who waited for the rain to stop, so hopefully tomorrow we will be able to go ahead and put on an exciting show for them.
In the Sprint Race, I pushed a lot at the start to put pressure on Lando (Norris) in front, but it didn’t work out. It was tricky managing the tyres towards the end of it as I had very little rear grip, but we will take what we have learned in that respect and apply it tomorrow, in case the conditions are dry again.
Carlos Sainz #55
Unfortunately, it was impossible to run qualifying as the track was too wet and visibility really poor. I’m sorry for the fans, who cheered relentlessly all afternoon even though we were unable to put on a show for them. Let's hope we can have quali tomorrow morning and make up for it!
Regarding this morning's Sprint race, it was very challenging. The car wasn't easy to drive and losing the DRS train ahead made it difficult to close the gap. The final laps were better and after the race we made some changes to the car and hopefully they will have a positive effect and we can enjoy a good quali and race tomorrow!
Fred Vasseur Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP
It’s a shame that qualifying could not take place, especially so for all the fans around the track, but after waiting a long time for the rain to ease off, it reached a point where the visibility would not be good enough to let the cars out on track.
At least the Sprint race was run, in which we struggled a bit, but nevertheless managed to bring home ten important points. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, when the weather could once again play its part. It will be important to stay focussed and prepare everything right down to the smallest detail to get the maximum out of our package.