The drama in the Sprint Race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix gave a great build-up for qualifying. But the rain gods had a different plan, and because of the excess wet track, the session couldn’t even start. F1 drivers waited over two hours when it was announced that qualifying had been postponed for Sunday.
The grid placement of drivers will be determined before the race, a precedent that was set in Japan in 2019. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali reasoned, “The conditions are not safe to drive.” Just at that moment Lewis Hamilton found the right opportunity to tease Domenicali, and demanded ‘better wet tires’.
“You should’ve sent us out. This is ridiculous. We should go out! I wanna go out! If you give us better wet tyres or blankets we’d be able to run in this,” said Hamilton.
The F1 boss also took the banter sportingly and laughed at the comments by the Brit. But at the same time, it also highlights F1’s incapability to drive in rain despite having wet tires for the same.
If you ever feel useless, remember that wet tyres exist pic.twitter.com/txIdYr7gr7
— F1 TROLL (@f1trollofficial) November 2, 2024
As the mandate stands, the time for qualifying will be decided ‘as soon as possible’. On the other hand, qualifying was not the only thing due to happen before F1 drew curtains on Saturday.
When will Hamilton drive Ayrton Senna’s car?
Hamilton was scheduled to drive Senna’s legendary McLaren after the qualifying. F1’s official YouTube channel even scheduled a live stream for it.
But due to the unfavorable weather conditions, even that had to be postponed. So when will Hamilton drive MP4/5B? As per the recent update, Hamilton will get to drive Senna’s McLaren on Sunday.
Though, the time for it is yet to be decided. With qualifying, the race, and Senna’s car exhibition, F1 will surely have a very busy Sunday. Hence, it would be no surprise if due to constraints, it gets canceled. This will be a big blow to Hamilton, who has been a Senna fan since childhood and to date adores him.