Drivers and teams apologize for the postponed qualifying session at Suzuka
Formula One drivers and teams have expressed their sympathy for the paying spectators who came in appalling conditions at Suzuka for a qualifying session on Saturday only to see it get postponed until Sunday morning.
The final session of free practice took place but rain intensified to the extent that drivers reported the track as undriveable. The FIA race director Charlie Whiting waited for as long he could in the hope that the session might start but eventually had
to admit that the conditions were just impossible and postponed it until Sunday. The session will now take place in the morning if conditions allow.
“I feel so sorry for the spectators in the grandstands. All the Formula 1 supporters were very much looking forward to the weekend, and now they have hardly seen a car today and got terribly wet. However, safety comes first, that is clear. We cannot drive
in these conditions. We have to wait for better weather,” said Sauber driver and local favourite Kamui Kobayashi.
The Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto also thanked his fans for their patience but was disappointed with the conditions.
“I want to thank the spectators who were patient and stayed until the final decision had been made. They were waiting in the rain for the cars to drive, which was not possible unfortunately. We are looking forward to tomorrow and it is going to be exciting
with qualifying and race within only some hours,” said Yamamoto.
Kamui Kobayashi’s teammate Nick Heidfeld added that the FIA had absolutely no choice and were forced to postpone the session in order to ensure the safety of the teams and drivers.
Aquaplaning with a Formula 1 car is the same as it is with any regular car. The car becomes hardly controllable because of the fact that the car’s floor is quite low to the ground. Besides that, when there is enough rain to flood the track, the tyres of
the cars literally float making it impossible for the drivers to drive.
“Another big safety issue is the visibility in the spray. If you have 24 cars on the track in Q1 and one spins no driver would have the chance to see it and avoid crashing into it”, said Heidfeld.
Sebastian Vettel agreed with Nick Heidfeld’s views and said that the best option for the FIA was to postpone the qualifying session and the steward made the right decision. It was quite disappointing for the fans but there was no other choice left. It is
better late than never. Sebastian agreed that it was an easy decision, but it had to be taken.
For most of the people, it was quite difficult to understand. It is not as easy as it sounds. It is not like the drivers would put on the wet tyres to solve this problem. The fans should understand that instead of putting a boring show, the FIA wants to
maintain its standards and one cannot blame them. The Formula 1 is a very technical sport and the fans should understand the fact that after the practice session earlier, the conditions were now even worse. It was impossible to driver on the track in those
conditions and since the cars will travel even faster during qualifying, it would increase the risk more and that would make it very dangerous for the drivers.
“We feel really sorry for the thousands of spectators who had braved the bad weather to pack the grandstands in order to watch what should have been an exciting qualifying session. There is always a great atmosphere here in Japan, with real enthusiasm for
Formula One,” Domenicali told Ferrari's website.
It will be an interesting and busy day for the drivers as they head into a qualifying session followed by a race just a couple of hours later. Things are getting even better this year.
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