Formula 1 qualifying at the Interlagos circuit was red-flagged two-and-a-half minutes after it started due to heavy rain.

All bar two of the 22 cars headed onto the circuit when the session began, but an intensifying band of rain forced them all back into the pits. Race control red-flagged the session in the meantime.

A group of drivers queued up at the pit lane exit, hoping to set times before the conditions worsened. But the heavy rain arrived too soon for that.

Eight drivers had to tiptoe around the circuit on the shallowed, intermediate treaded rubber. These were Mercedes and Alpine drivers plus Charles Leclerc, Isack Hadjar, Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas.

The remaining drivers, with the exception of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, all circulated on full wets, then pulled into the pits when race control halted the session.

The FIA used the Medical Car and Safety Car to evaluate the conditions for almost an hour and a half as rain continued to pass over the circuit. They eventually opted to resume Q1 at 4:26pm local time.

This article will be updated

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