Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, Sochi Autodrom, 2018

Risk of rain throughout Russian Grand Prix weekend

2019 Russian Grand Prix weather

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Formula 1 could see its first wet Russian Grand Prix in Sochi this weekend.

The possibility of rain and even thunderstorms hangs over the upcoming race weekend in Sochi. Overcast, rainy conditions are expected to continue from mid-week into the weekend.

The first day of practice on Friday is expected to be a grey day, though the threat of rainfall is fairly low. Occasional light showed are possible throughout the day. The temperatures shouldn’t be too low – comfortably around the 23C region.

Saturday will bring further rain and the possibility of thunderstorms in the morning, including up to the final hour of practice. Conditions could improve for the vital hour of qualifying, but there is a decent chance drivers will be wary of saving intermediate and full wet weather tyres for Saturday. In which case, they may do little running if Friday is wet, to save tyres.

The forecast for race day is a little better with a lower risk of rain and the promise of spells of sunshine. But the forecast may well develop further between now and then.

In the meantime the teams are keeping their eyes on the forecasts. “The forecast for Sochi is for changeable weather,” Ferrari team principal Mattias Binotto acknowledged, “so it will be important to be prepared for every eventuality.”

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For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Risk of rain throughout Russian Grand Prix weekend”

  1. Shame race day looks dry. Really don’t like Sochi but I think it’d be a very tricky, challenging place in the wet… maybe even one of the most difficult to master on the calendar. Lots of dull 90-degree corners but T1 to T3, the bendy braking zone and that horrible off-camber corner in the final sector could be tough.

    1. isaac (@invincibleisaac)
      26th September 2019, 10:57

      @neilosjames – I agree. I don’t like this track much, but it would be good in the wet, especially based on how Germany was. I imagine that all of the run-offs would become extremely slippery which would make for an exciting race.

      1. 30% chance of rain Sunday but probably before the race, might be a wet start.

  2. Rain can only save what could be another very dull Russian GP.

  3. I, as always, hope that qualifying would be dry throughout because it’s the most lap time-relevant session of a GP-weekend, but this time no rain in any session would be ideal as I’m on trackside for a change.

    1. @jerejj Jere, you’ve always been obsessed with improvement in lap times xD

      1. @neutronstar It’s nice to see how each season’s cars fare on a given circuit when it comes to nailing single-lap performance to the greatest extent achievable, and only dry-weather conditions allow for that, so whenever there’s rain in a qualifying session, it’s never possible to show the full potential of a given season’s cars lap time-wise. That’s about it.

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