Miami GP race time decision imminent as FIA assesses lightning threat

A firm decision regarding the scheduling of Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix is expected to be made in the hours following qualifying.

Uncertainty has persisted throughout the weekend about whether Sunday’s race may need rescheduling due to the threat of rain and thunderstorms in the Miami region.

Miami GP race time change decision imminent

F1’s governing body, the FIA, is set to meet with FOM on Saturday evening, in the hours after qualifying, in order to evaluate the exact scheduling for Sunday’s race.

Local guidelines in Florida, a state in which lightning is not a rare occurrence, state that the presence of lightning with thunder following within 30 seconds urges people to seek shelter, a rule that particularly applies to large public events such as the Miami GP.

The latest weather forecast has resulted in a Rain Hazard being declared by the FIA for Sunday, with the official weather service forecasting a probability of rain greater than 40 percent during the current schedule.

At present, the race is scheduled to start at 4pm local time, but it’s understood that several teams have indicated a willingness to start the race earlier due to the potential for disruptive thunderstorms that threaten the race going ahead at all as daylight fades.

Throughout the weekend, the governing body has been keeping a watching brief and, initially, a decision was not expected to be made until Sunday morning.

However, with logistics and personnel demands, as well as the need to liaise correctly with local authorities on the safe and controlled running of the event, a decision is now expected to be made on Saturday evening after qualifying, with a firm picture of whether the race will be moved forward or remain at its currently scheduled time communicated.

One mooted scenario that emerged on Saturday was the suggestion of the race potentially being delayed until Monday, but this is not thought to be a viable possibility; Alpine’s Steve Nielsen shut down that possibility when he spoke to the media, including PlanetF1.com, on Saturday.

“I tell you, there won’t be a race on Monday,” he said.

“That story always comes up and they won’t do it. And you know what? Primarily, that’s because the marshals all have day jobs on Monday.

“They can’t just be here. Now we’re obviously monitoring the forecast like I’m sure you all are; forecasts early this morning for tomorrow look quite bad, that rain seems to be moving later and later.

“And whilst it is true that, right now, it looks like it’s going to rain at four o’clock, maybe by this evening, it doesn’t look like that.

“So I think if you start moving the race and pre-empting it, you run the risk not only do you mess up all the support series, you run the risk of it actually being bright sunshine at four o’clock anyway.

“So I think what you can say is a decision will have to be made today if we were going to move it particularly earlier.

“We’d have to tell the teams before they went home tonight. My guess is that they won’t move it because it looks like the weather’s moving away. That’s the guess.”

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