FP3 cancelled; F1 preparing for Sunday qualifying

Formula 1 has been forced to cancel the final practice session of the Styrian Grand Prix due to torrential rain, with qualifying now almost certain to take place on Sunday morning.

Extreme weather swept across the Red Bull Ring shortly after the start of the F3 race on Saturday morning, resulting in it being red-flagged after 15 laps.

Twelve minutes prior to the start of FP3, the FIA declared it had been 'delayed indefinitely' due to the weather, before finally calling it off at 11.40am BST.

Should qualifying that is scheduled to start at 2pm BST also be cancelled, F1 will run the session from 10am on Sunday morning, with the weather forecast much brighter.

Should there be a change in the conditions overnight, then F1 will be forced to revert to the times set in the second practice session on Friday afternoon.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen set the fastest time, followed closely by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton sixth and Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari down in 18th.

F1 has been in this position before, most recently last year in Japan when Typhoon Hagibis forced the postponement of qualifying that then took place on Sunday morning, similarly with the 2015 United States GP.

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