F1 Sao Paolo Grand Prix UK start time: Why has the race and qualifying been moved?

FORUMLA ONE is back later today with the Sao Paolo Grand Prix but under different circumstances than you might have expected.

Both qualifying AND the race will take place within hours of each other at Interlagos later today.

EPA

The safety car was out more than once during Saturday’s F1 Sprint qualifying[/caption]

AP

The wet conditions proved difficult for race teams to contend with[/caption]

On Saturday, McLaren’s Lando Norris won the Sprint race ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri, who was told to let the Brit pass on team orders.

Championship standings leader Max Verstappen originally finished third but was given a five-second penalty and dropped to fourth, with Norris now three points closer to the Dutchman.

Why has the race and qualifying been moved?

Qualifying was moved from Saturday at 6pm GMT to today at 10.30am GMT because of heavy rain.

The race itself has been moved forward 90 minutes from 5pm GMT today to 3.30pm GMT because of more wet weather being forecast later on.

The switch is unprecedented.

The reason for the early qualifying start time (7.30am local) is because F1 rules mandate that there has to be at least four hours between qualifying and the start of the race.

The FIA and Formula One released a joint statement on Saturday after numerous delays.

“The decision was taken not to proceed with qualifying due to poor visibility, standing water on the track and fading light,” the statement read.

“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.”

Lewis Hamilton insisted that he wanted to go out and race in the wet conditions but called for F1 to produce better wet tyres for the drivers.

“I want to go out. If you give us better wet tyres we’d be able to go out in this,” he told F1 president Stefano Domenicali.

Ferrari star Carlos Sainz described Saturday’s racing conditions as ‘impossible’.

Verstappen still leads the standings this year but Lando Norris is now just 44 points behind him and will be desperate to reduce that deficit further today.