Singapore qualifying delayed 30 minutes to 21:30 local

Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix has been pushed back 30 minutes after rain delayed the Sprint. It was due to start at 21:00 local time and now begins at 21:30 in Singapore, which is 22:30 in Korea and Japan. The session still lasts 60 minutes, and it sets tomorrow's grid for Sunday's race.

Sources: RacingNews365, GPFans. Delay and session length in minutes

New start time

RacingNews365 said qualifying was delayed by 30 minutes because of the late start to the Sprint, while GPFans said rain at Marina Bay held up the Saturday afternoon Sprint. According to Autosport's live text, the FIA announced the delay at 19:21 local time and said a new schedule would be issued shortly. GPFans lists the new start times below.

Region	Start time
Singapore	21:30
UK (BST)	14:30
Central Europe (CEST)	15:30
Japan	22:30

Korea is one hour ahead of Singapore, so the session starts at 22:30 Korean time. RacingNews365's schedule table lists qualifying at 15:00 without a time zone, which does not match the 14:30 BST in its own text. This article follows the 21:30 local time on which both outlets agree.

What happened in the Sprint

The Sprint was run on intermediate tyres on a wet track. Autosport's live text said Turns 1-3 were still wet late in the race and slicks were two or three seconds per lap away from being quicker. Max Verstappen won, Lewis Hamilton finished 2.591s behind in second, Charles Leclerc took third and Kimi Antonelli was fourth, 0.367s behind Leclerc. Hamilton's yellow-flag infringement and the contact between Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto were under investigation at the time, and final outcomes are not given in that source.

What to watch in qualifying

GPFans noted that Verstappen took Sprint pole on Friday and is favourite for pole, but has never won at Marina Bay. It also said pole-sitters have won 11 of the 16 races held there and that overtaking is difficult on the 4.927km street circuit, so qualifying matters a great deal for Sunday.

The Formula 1 website's forecast, published on October 7, gave a 40% chance of rain on Saturday afternoon and 40% on Sunday, with a chance of a pop-up shower or thunderstorm in the mid-to-late afternoon. That forecast is three days old, and none of the sources gives a current forecast for the qualifying hour. How quickly the track dries is something to watch, not a confirmed factor.