Rain made Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying difficult

Wet weather made qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix challenging. Aquaplaning, reduced visibility and the difficulty of keeping the tyres warm were among the drivers’ concerns, as a repeat of 2024, when qualifying was squeezed onto Sunday morning, looked likely.

Carlos Sainz described a particularly demanding track: “It felt a bit punchy when we left on the extreme wets because we were aquaplaning in sixth and seventh gear down the straights. And if you lose the car at those speeds, it’s always going to be a big one.”

Liam Lawson also said the opening stages felt extremely sketchy. However, he was glad the drivers were out on track rather than in the garage, while acknowledging the risk. In his view, there were not many incidents.

The conditions also placed greater importance on low-speed downforce and keeping the tyres warm. Fernando Alonso nevertheless pointed to an issue that remained: “The engine is very important in terms of drivability and the way it behaves in the corners, and we still have a little bit of an issue there.”

George Russell drew a distinction between enjoying wet-weather driving and the level of danger: “I love driving in the rain — but at some point, if that was a race, that was no way we should be driving in it — the chances of seeing a really, really horrific incident is very, very high.”

Opinions were not uniform. Hamilton and Hulkenberg welcomed the rain, but Antonelli said he had never driven in wetter conditions and found it unenjoyable. Antonelli and Bearman said the circuit was over the limit at the Q1 restart; Bearman nevertheless conceded that the early running had helped the track improve.