After the Rugby World Cup, Japan's F1 Grand Prix was disrupted by Typhoon Hagibis. The qualifications of this competition, scheduled for Saturday at 15h, local time (6h GMT), are postponed to Sunday 10am (1am GMT), announced the organizers in a statement Friday.
This report is conditioned to the weather Sunday morning on the Suzuka circuit, strong gusts of wind are still expected. The race remains scheduled at 14:10 (5h10 GMT) Sunday.
"Due to the anticipated impact of Typhoon Hagibis, Mobilityland [which owns the circuit] and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) have decided to cancel all activities scheduled for Saturday, October 12", reads in the press release.
The drivers will therefore have only two free practice sessions on Friday to prepare for qualifying and the GP, the third session scheduled for Saturday morning being canceled.
"The International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Formula 1 support this decision in the interest of the safety of spectators, competitors and all on the Suzuka circuit," he added.
Serious accident in 2014
Gusts of wind up to 216 km / h were expected for Saturday 9 am local time, a few hours before the scheduled arrival of Hagibis on central and eastern Japan, including the densely populated region of Tokyo.
The Japanese round of the Formula 1 World Championship has been disrupted by typhoons several times. In 2004 and 2010, qualifying took place before the race on Sunday. In very bad weather conditions in 2014, the French driver Jules Bianchi had suffered a serious accident that later caused his death.
The passage of Typhoon Hagibis on Japan this weekend had already caused Thursday the cancellation of two matches of the Rugby World Cup, England-France in Yokohama and New Zealand-Italy to Toyota.
With AFP