Formula 1 abandoned efforts to run Saturday’s third practice session due to torrential rain at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
Friday’s two sessions took place in hot and sunny conditions but forecasts indicated that storms and continuous heavy rain was due to affect the region on Saturday.
After a cloudy start rain fell prior to the start of the Formula 3 race and intensified thereafter, prompting series officials to call a halt to proceedings after 14 of the 24 scheduled laps.
The start of the session was delayed indefinitely and with 40 of the planned 60 minutes having passed organisers called off the session entirely.
Qualifying is due to begin at 15:00 local time but due to the inclement weather conditions there is a possibility that the session may not be able to take place as scheduled.
In the event of qualifying being unable to run then the first contingency plan is to run a session on Sunday morning, as happened at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix.
As a back-up, under the Sporting Regulations, the results of second practice can be used to determine the composition of the grid.
“There is a chance at the end of today we’ll get some running,” said Formula 1’s Managing Director Ross Brawn.
“We’ll have qualifying tomorrow, we have a schedule tomorrow that means we only lose the Formula 2 Sprint Race and the Porsche race, so there’ll be qualifying in the morning.”
