Drivers and teams approve the postponement of the qualifying sessions

If some hoped that the 2013 Australian Grand Prix qualifying, the first of the season, would be an opportunity to gauge the state of play among the teams, those hopes were short-lived, as rain disrupted the qualifying session to the point that the FIA decided, after a very eventful Q1, to postpone the second and third phases of qualifying to Sunday morning: « We discussed with the stewards and, due to the rain and poor visibility, we decided that the best course of action was simply to get everyone out of this mess. I didn’t hear anyone among the teams complain about the decision, » says Charlie Whiting, the race director.

Author of a spectacular off-track excursion after the rapid sequence of turns 11 and 12, Felipe Massa indeed considers himself lucky to have been able to resume the track: « I was extremely lucky. In my entire career, I’ve never been able to continue qualifying after hitting so hard. […] With what happened, I’m happy to be able to continue qualifying. Honestly, I was really, really lucky in the way I hit the wall. » Indeed, a few minutes later, Esteban Gutiérrez made a mistake at the same spot as the Paulista, but he couldn’t continue, his Sauber being too severely damaged.

Among the victims of precarious conditions, Lewis Hamilton experienced a scare when he lost control of his Mercedes F1 W04, ending up in a tire wall, resulting in some damage to the rear wing of his vehicle. When questioned by Sky Sports News, the 2008 world champion stated that it was obviously the right decision, adding that it was dangerous on the track. Fernando Alonso echoed this sentiment: It’s a shame that qualifying is postponed until tomorrow, but on the white lines, it was too slippery. It’s unfortunate both for the teams focused on preparing for the session, for the fans who came to support us, and for the track marshals who worked hard trying to dry the circuit. It was a necessary decision given the track conditions […]. Now, we must wait until tomorrow to see if the weather improves.

Stefano Domenicali, director of the Italian team, also supports the FIA’s decision to postpone the rest of the qualifying to tomorrow: « It was clear that the situation was only getting worse. Now, we must stay focused because the qualifications will take place under different conditions. In such conditions, it becomes a lottery. We stop for tonight and prepare for tomorrow: it will be a rather busy Sunday. »

Like his Italian counterpart, Christian Horner (Red Bull) believes that, in absolute terms, the right decision was made: Conditions were deteriorating too quickly, particularly in terms of visibility and water quantity. So let’s hope it improves tonight and we’ll be back tomorrow. […] I think it’s more complicated for the technicians than for the drivers. Obviously, the cars are new and having less time to prepare the car between qualifying and the race adds a bit of pressure.

But the Briton is especially pleased with the FIA’s decision not to establish the grid based on Q1 times: “I think it would have been unfair because we had to make our way through Q1. It wasn’t about setting fast times in that first session, but surviving it.” And the boss of the reigning world champion team adds humorously: “It would have been even fairer to determine the starting order based on the car numbers.”

Note that Canal+ Sport will broadcast the end of the qualifications from 01:00, in the night from Saturday to Sunday. In Belgium, La Deux will also be present to cover, live, the end of the qualifications. The editorial team of Motorsinside.com will continue its live text coverage. Until then, all the cars have been placed under Parc Fermé conditions, although it remains to be seen if the drivers eliminated in Q1 will be allowed to adjust their vehicles’ settings, which the successful qualifiers will be able to do during Q2 and Q3.