The unexpected downpour that forced qualifying for Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix to be postponed has prompted great intrigue about a unique ‘what if’ scenario.
And it is that, if the weather in Sao Paulo remains treacherous on Sunday morning and the rescheduled session cannot run, how will the grid for the F1 race be formed?
The matter has no definitive answer because, quite amazingly, there is nothing in the 2024 F1 Sporting Regulations that lays out definitively how a grid will be defined if qualifying cannot take place.
Quite why this is the case is not clear, but interestingly it is something that has been addressed for the 2025 season with an amendment to the regulations already stating how a grid will be put together in such circumstances.
A new Article 42.1 of the Sporting Regulations states that “in the exceptional circumstance” that qualifying does not take place then “with acceptance of the Stewards that the session cannot take place, the grid for the race will be defined based upon the drivers’ championship classification.”
That alteration was put in after the most recent F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council meetings last month, but it is understood it came too late for an agreement to be reached for them to added to the 2024 rules.
So where does that leave things under the current circumstance for defining a grid right now?
There are two regulations here that potentially deal with the scenario of forming a grid when no qualifying times have been set – although neither are explicit in whether or not they deal with the circumstances of there being no qualifying session.
There is Article 39.4b that details a scenario of dealing with drivers who are “unclassified.” This is for any driver that “failed to set a time in Q1 or SQ1, or if all their laps were deleted.”
The rules then go on to explain that the classification of such a driver will be allocated “in accordance with the order they were classified in P3 (or, in the case a Sprint Session is scheduled, P1).”
This rule is intriguing though because it can be subject to a great deal of interpretation.
One viewpoint is that if qualifying is cancelled, because all drivers did not set a time in Q1, then everyone is ‘unclassified’ so on a sprint weekend that order would be decided by P1.
That would mean the fastest driver in opening practice, Lando Norris, taking pole position – with Max Verstappen being handed 15th on the grid before being moved back another five places because of his engine grid penalty.
However, such an interpretation of the rules is not shared by everyone because there is a viewpoint that if qualifying is cancelled, but SQ1 has taken place, then the wording of 39.4b) actually means that any driver who did a lap in sprint qualifying is ‘classified’.
In that case, article 42.3 is triggered which deals with how the grid order is handed out.
This states: “Classified drivers who have received 15 or less cumulative grid penalties will be allocated a temporary grid position equal to their qualifying session or sprint qualifying session classification plus the sum of their grid penalties."
In this case, it can be interpreted that the grid order for classified drivers is taken from their sprint qualifying classification.
That would mean Oscar Piastri takes pole position for the grand prix ahead of Norris, with Verstappen down in fourth place before his grid penalty.
All of this debate about the interpretation of the regulations is superseded, however, by the International Sporting Code.
A test case for this came at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix when there was a risk of the grid not being formed in similar circumstances when qualifying was rained off on Saturday morning and delayed until Sunday.
Amid fears that qualifying may not even take place then, the stewards issued a note detailing what would happen if they had to form a grid without it.
They noted that “the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations are silent on the subject.”
Instead, they exercised the authority that was handed down to them under Article 11.9.3b of the International Sporting Code to decide how the grid would be formed.
This ISC rule gives the stewards total authority to “amend the Supplementary Regulations” – which effectively means they can decide how a grid is formed.
At the time they concluded that this would be based on the second free practice times from Suzuka, which was the last competitive session that took place because Saturday was a complete wash-out.
In the event that Sunday qualifying does not happen in Brazil then a repeat circumstance of the stewards picking which session determines the grid will be enacted – and would most likely be the sprint qualifying result.
However, there is nothing to stop them choosing any criteria they want.
