Formula 1 teams have been greeted with much improved weather at Suzuka on Sunday morning, meaning delayed qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix will be able to go ahead.
Race organizers were forced to abandon efforts to run qualifying on Saturday after the Suzuka track was hit with a torrential downpour, leaving conditions too dangerous for cars to take to the track. Qualifying has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. – five hours before the start of the race – and the bad weather that affected the circuit on Saturday has now passed.
Although the track is set to remain damp for the start of qualifying, radar predictions show there is no chance of a repeat of the downpours that marred Saturday. There remains some cloud cover at Suzuka, but blue skies are breaking through.
Jenson Button reckoned that the expected conditions were going to set up a thrilling day's action - especially with the world title battle so closely fought at the moment.
"I think it is looking like it will be a very exciting GP, possibly with wet qualifying in the morning drying in the second session, and then a race that is pretty much dry," he said. "It should be a fun Sunday and we can hopefully take some good points off of our competitors."