Just as in Suzuka two weeks ago, qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos was repeatedly delayed – this time due to bad weather and crashes.
The session began on time but was stopped after Giancarlo Fisichella spun at the first corner.
Race control originally decided to start Q2 after a delay even when there was no obvious let-up in the rain. The first time the cars came past the pits Vitantonio Liuzzi lost control on the straight, hit the pitwall hard and then nearly took out Kimi Raikkonen.
This brought out the red flags for a second time while the shattered Force India was recovered.
Liuzzi confirmed afterwards he lost control of the car after he came off the accelerator as he approached turn one – before he had chance to get on the brakes.
It’s easy to be critical in hindsight but given how suddenly Liuzzi lost control, the fact that Kazuki Nakajima also spun, and the visible streams of water running across the track, the decision to start Q2 when they did was clearly a mistake.
At the time of writing race control are waiting for better weather conditions to get qualifying re-started once again. Join us on the live blog for more.
slr
17th October 2009, 20:55
Wow, that was put on You Tube rather quickly.
Gusto
17th October 2009, 21:02
It was there before He crashed lol
Ned Flanders
17th October 2009, 22:42
Has anyone else noticed how weak the Force India seems to be? I think of 3 crashes involving Force India’s this season where the wheel tethers have failed- Sutil in China and in qualifying at Silverstone, and Liuzzi today.
Gman
17th October 2009, 23:28
Good point- diden’t really notice it until now.
Are we sure that’s the same car that was slugging it out with Raikkonen at Spa?
dsob
18th October 2009, 5:34
Actually, the tethers are designed to hold the tyres to the suspension/chassis should the hub break.
Nothing will hold the tyres to the car when so much of the suspension and body disintegrates.