Japan GP: Nasty downpour at Suzuka halts the Practice 3 and Qualifying
Heavy showers and thunderstorms halt the anxious drivers from coming out on the Suzuka track. The Formula One drivers wait anxiously for the rain to stop as they prepare for the qualifying.
The sixteenth race of the season, the Japanese Grand Prix is scheduled to take place this Sunday at the Suzuka Track. Today (Saturday) was to mark the third practice and the qualifying session of the race. However, the nasty downpour that started early morning
today prevented the drivers from coming on the track and still the drivers are waiting for the qualifying to begin. The sky is pouring endlessly, and though the qualifying has been postponed for just another half an hour, yet it is hard to predict if it would
take place today or not. As per the earlier predictions clouds are to stay there all through the weekend.
In the early hours as the cars came out for the third practice, the track was all wet with puddles of water here and there, keeping the drivers from their morning endeavour. Only the two of the drivers Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso and Timo Glock of Virgin
were able to cover a few laps.
Alguersuari completed 9 laps with his best time being 1:55.902s, whereas Glock went through 6 laps making 2:07.497s his best. None of the other drivers was able to go through many laps, and hence no time has been calculated.
No doubt it is a shock for everyone as such a situation is very rare to be seen in Formula One when a practice or qualifying gets cancelled or postponed, but this time the weather adversities seem to be the biggest foe.
Initially the qualifying was delayed to half an hour only, and it was expected to take place at 2: 30 PM (+9 GMT). However, the steady rainfall postponed it to another half an hour thus giving 3:00 PM as the final time. Just a while ago the safety car cruised
through the track suggesting that the track is just not safe enough to carry on with the qualifying, delaying it even further.
FIA has put forward the suggestion of carrying the qualifying on Sunday morning, just before the race. Nonetheless, the teams as well as the fans are hoping that the sudden downpour would soon come to an end.
Tags: