US Grand Prix Qualifying: May happen Sunday – may not happen at all

Qualifying for the 2015 United States Grand Prix was washed out by heavy rain, so organisers are planning Sunday qualifying – but even that may not happen.

The Saturday of an F1 Grand Prix weekend is always the day when we discover who will take pole position for the race – and who will be an also-ran at the start. But heavy rain at the Circuit of Americas on Saturday was so bad organisers deemed it too unsafe to have any qualifying laps at all.

It’s only the third time this century an F1 qualifying has failed to happen – Suzuka in 2004 and Melbourne in 2013 – and race organisers are hoping qualifying can now take place pre-race on Sunday for the United States Grand Prix – but even that’s in doubt.

If the rain is still too bad on Sunday morning (US time) then the start grid is going to be based on the last practice session – which was also affected by rain – which could gift Lewis Hamilton pole position – and the drivers title.

That’s because final practice – before the rain hit too hard – saw Hamilton at the front, but his main challenger – team mate Nico Rosberg – trailing in a lowly ninth position, with Vettel provisionally alongside Hamilton on the front row followed by Hulkenberg, Bottas, Sainz and Kvyat. But Vettel, along with Raikkonen, has a 10-place grid penalty for using too many engines.

An attempt to run qualifying is scheduled for 9.00 am (2pm GMT), but only if the peripheral rain from tropical storm Patricia allows. If not, it will probably gift Hamilton pole – and almost certainly the title.