Heavy Rain Postpones Qualifying in Japan

After a final practice session in which only Jamie Alguersuari and Timo Glock actually set a time, the chances of qualifying taking place were very slim.

The rain that effectively cancelled P3 failed to ease and as a result Qualifying was finally cancelled at about 03:30 local time.

This came after three delays at half-hour intervals.

Qualifying will now take place tomorrow morning (weather permitting). So what does all this mean for the race? And the Championship?

As far as the race is concerned, the delay wouldn’t affect the show at all. In fact, having qualifying and the race on the same day may make for an extremely tense and exciting competition. The same thing happened in 2004 and whilst the race itself was pretty standard (Schumacher started and finished first), it did prove that both events can happen on the same day.

Can we make any predictions from the times set on Friday? Well, as expected the Red Bulls were extremely quick. Fernando Alonso put in a very strong performance but the McLaren drivers could find themselves behind after pretty heavy incidents at the Degner corners. Lewis Hamilton wrecked his suspension and session, whilst Jenson Button had to have work done on his car after running wide.

However, before their difficulties, the McLarens had set encouraging pace. In fact, if anyone is going to benefit extensively from today’s cancellation it will be McLaren. All the hard work and data collection from Friday will essentially be wiped clean by the heavy rain. All of the teams will be stepping onto an unpredictable track and this can only mean one thing…an awesome Japanese Grand Prix!

I can’t wait!