***Suzuka Qualifying moved to Sunday***

[DQuaN]

http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2309/730.html


Japan qualifying moved to Sunday

There will be no Formula One track action at Suzuka on Saturday due to the imminent arrival of Typhoon 22. Instead, pre-qualifying and qualifying will take place on Sunday morning.

Acting on the advice of the local Japanese authorities, given the extreme weather forecast, stewards have agreed with circuit officials that the track should be closed on Saturday. All sessions are therefore cancelled.

Pre-qualifying will now take place at 0900 local time (0000 Saturday GMT) on Sunday morning, with qualifying at 1000 (0100 Sunday GMT). The race will begin as originally scheduled at 1430.

The typhoon, which is due to hit the circuit at around midnight, is expected to bring more heavy rain and winds of up to 160kph (100mph). Friday’s two practice sessions were both run in torrential rain, with most drivers putting in little more than installation laps, and several spinning off into the gravel traps.

Wow, qualifying and race on the same day. Has this ever happened before?

 

[kensei]

not sure if it has ever happened before, though I bet somewhere it has.

If you saw the practice last night and/or know how poorly Suzuka drains due to elevation changes you can know why.

Also given the Typhoon coming directly at them and what the last one did to the track (this one is more powerful too) I'll be amazed if they even race at all Sunday

Now has that happened before...a GP being cancelled?

 

[ExigeEvan]

I read in the paper this morning that the qualifying was in jeopardy. But JP Montoya who wrote the article was under the opinion that if qualifying was cancelled then they would start the race in order of finishing at China.
The same day qualifying migtht wear the drivers out abit, and could harm some sponsorship/TV deals. But I doubt there will be any major problems.

 

[Blake]

Wow, that's very odd

The drivers will be glad when the race is over...if it starts. I'll be gutted if they don't run it.

 

[Nasadus]

If the typhoon doesn't stop or atleast calm down then i don't think they'll be racing on Sunday wich would suck.

 

[Cosmic]

That's strange for some reason. :]

 

[kensei]

If the typhoon doesn't stop or atleast calm down then i don't think they'll be racing on Sunday wich would suck.

My wife has had her parents in Japan tracking the typhoon and her sister is at Suzuka for the weekend. From what they have told her it is very doubtful that the race is going to happen. Her parents said the storm isn't breaking down much and her sister said the buzz around the track (completely unofficial BTW) is that nothing is going to happen and people are heading home to beat the crowds. She even mentioned a rumor at the track that some of the teams have started packing up to leave, which would lead me to believe someone in the FIA has made an official call on it to the teams at least.

Now take this a with a grain of salt as it is coming to be 3rd person from family on the otherside of the planet with only one of them actually at the track for the race......

 

[Pupik]

http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2309/730.html

Japan qualifying moved to Sunday

Wow, qualifying and race on the same day. Has this ever happened before?

In the history of the Wolrd Championship, I can't think of one time where qualfying and the race occured on the same day. In fact, it's rare for any type of racing series to follow that sort of format.

However, the 1959 German GP was held in two "heats", meaning the grid lined up for the second race based on the results of the first race, but that's something different than qualifying.

In 1985, the Belgian GP was slated for May, but the track surface broke up so much that the race and qualifying was cancelled after the first practice. The F1 circus returned in September, after the track was resurfaced, to complete the race and qualfying sessions (you had two of them back then) as if nothing had happened.

Bernie's got to make a deal quick with the...uh, proper authorities...to get his television schedules to stay put.

 

[heero 12]

I wonder what Speed is gonna do about this.

 

[Eagle]

That Spa incident is the only time a GP was postponed. I'm pretty sure qualifying has been run on the same day as the race before but I can't cite a specific example. As for the starting grid, a few people seem to believe it will be finishing order of China, but apparently world championship order and practice times may come into it. We'll know more as the day progresses. The circuit is closed for the day but I hear they're hopeful conditions will improve significantly for Sunday allowing the race to go ahead. I certainly don't believe they've cancelled the event already nor that teams are packing up.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

The Typhoon has been updated to "Super Typhoon" status. According to the FIA, the race is still scheduled to go ahead at the normal time. Trouble is, there isn't much daylight in Japan at this time of year, and so there's little opportunity to move the race by an hour or so. I remember in 1994, where the race was stopped in heavy rain, there was some doubt that the restarted race could go the whole distance as it was so dark.