Rain Could Hit Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday

The Spanish Grand Prix could continue the 2009 tradition of wet races in Formula 1. Although the weather forecast in the midweek suggested no rain will visit the Catalonian track during the course of this weekend, an update on Friday revealed some showers are expected in the region on Sunday afternoon (during race time).

The confirmation of the weather forecast was shown on Formula One's official website, which further reported that Friday and Saturday action at Circuit de Catalonia will be rain-free. A few hours before the first official practice session today, “an ambient temperature of 18 degrees Celsius” was expected for the remainder of the day, while believed to drop to 17 degrees Celsius tomorrow.

The 66-lap race on Sunday will be ran at the Spanish circuit starting local time 14.00. Further details on the Sunday weather are to emerge later today or early tomorrow.

If rainy, this would be the 3rd time – in the first 5 races – this season the drivers will have to contest on wet tires. The Malaysian Grand Prix marked the first race in Formula One's modern history to be shortcut due to intense rain – with the overall Top 8 drivers being awarded half points – while the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks later was also hit by rainy clouds.

Unlike the aforementioned races, however, drivers will not have to think about “twilight racing” anymore. This was, in fact, another cause for the shortened race at Sepang, as action would have been impossible to resume even if the race had stopped – because of the late hour the Malaysian GP started in the first place.