Sebastian Vettel says Suzuka qualifying could have turned into a farce had it continued in today’s rain.
Vettel is arguably the guy with the most to lose in the lottery conditions of this weekend, having won last year and dominated practice on Friday. In fact things could move back in his favour if it is dry on Sunday morning.
“It’s a tough call from race direction because obviously there’s lots of pressure from media all around the world, because the people at home they want to see us qualifying,” said Vettel. “And there was no chance today. Obviously the worst time today was for the fans. They waited all day long since practice for us to come out. In the end I think it was the right decision, because in these conditions there’s just too much water, and it becomes a farce, as we are not controlling the car anymore, and we are just passengers.
“Right now there are all sorts of possibilities as to what might happen to the qualifying. Right now what everyone is trying to do and hoping for is to have a normal qualifying, but time is limited, so we will see what will be the decision. The weather, because so far the rain is forecast until late this night, or even tomorrow morning, we will see.
“I think there is no reason to panic right now. Obviously what everyone is hoping for is a fair chance to qualify at his best, and then we’ll see. But surely it’s a new situation for most of us, apart from those who have been racing in 2004, when here as well they had qualifying and the race on the same day.”
Vettel agreed that it might not be easy for fans to understand how tough the conditions were.
“It’s probably a difficult thing to understand for the people outside. You just think OK put the rain tyres on and you’ll be fine. It’s not as easy as that. The cars are very light, we only have around 600-700kgs, which is half of a road car. The cars are very low, and so very easily with some standing water on the track we catch aquaplaning.
“And then it becomes undriveable for us. I think it was the right decision, there was no chance for us, as we would only be passengers rather than controlling and being able to push to our limits and to the limits of the car.”
Adam Cooper F1 