FP3: Saturday practice session cancelled due to torrential rain
The FIA and Formula One have decided to call off the third and final practice session for the inaugural Styrian Grand Prix due to torrential rain at the Red Bull Ring.
Following the disruption of the FIA Formula 3 feature race on Saturday morning due to heavy rain showers, the FIA has decided to delay the third and final practice session indefinitely. The safety car went out for track inspection to give feedback on the conditions to the governing body, but the conditions did not improve.
After a delay of 40 minutes, the session was called off. The qualifying session is due to start at 3 pm local time.
FIA Race Director Michael Masi said that there are different options on the table to define the starting order for the Styrian Grand Prix. As the weather is expected to be sunny and warm tomorrow, the most likely scenario is to hold the qualifying session on Sunday morning.
“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. Or there’s the third iteration, which is free practice three can happen but we can’t have qualifying in the afternoon or qualifying Sunday morning and the grid would highly likely be set on the free practice three times," Masi concluded.
