Formula 1 qualifying: F1 Free Practice 3 cancelled; what happens if rain washes out Styrian GP Qualifying session

Formula 1 Qualifying for the Styrian GP is under threat due to the weather in Austria, with the free practice 3 already cancelled.

Formula One has announced that the Free Practise 3 session has been cancelled. This could have an impact on the scheduled qualifying session.

If qualifying session does not take place at all, then the FP2 times would decide the starting grid for Sunday’s race.

Race Director on the permutations and combinations

FIA Race Director Michael Masi has spoken on what would happen if qualifying does not take place.

“There’s lots of options to put it simply. If a worst-case scenario was to come about, we’ve already had a look and qualifying could take place on Sunday morning.

“If we had a complete washout on Saturday, free practice three and qualifying didn’t take place and hypothetically qualifying couldn’t happen on Sunday morning because of weather, we would revert back to free practice two times.

How will the starting grid look like Qualifying does not take place?

If there is no qualifying session happening, then FP2 Classification would decide the starting grid for Sunday.

This would mean that Max Verstappen would start on pole, followed by last weekend’s race winner Valtteri Bottas. The Racing Point of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll would line up in the second row of the grid. McLaren’s Ferrari-bound driver Carlos Sainz will line up fifth.

Intriguingly, Lewis Hamilton will line up 6th, just ahead of Red Bull’s Alex Albon. The former had crashed into Albon last weekend, effectively ending his race. Hamilton got a 5-second penalty, which pushed him to fourth from second, handing compatriot Lando Norris the first podium of his F1 career.

Also read: Daniel Ricciardo could line up last in the starting grid after crash in FP2