Drivers excited by 'lottery' of busy race day

© XPB 

A number of F1 drivers say they are excited by the challenge of qualifying and racing on the same day at the United States Grand Prix.

Qualifying was cancelled on Saturday after torrential rain battered the Circuit of the Americas throughout the afternoon, meaning the session has been rescheduled for 0900 local time on Sunday morning. With the teams then having to turn the cars round for the race four hours later, Lewis Hamilton says it opens up more opportunities for surprises.

“I think it will be pretty sick," Hamilton said. "I think it will be interesting, hopefully the weather will back off and it will be a little better. You imagine if it’s raining in the morning then it makes the qualifying a little more of a lottery but I’m just hoping for a better day, a bit of sunshine would be great!”

And Jenson Button agreed with his former team-mate, saying the change in schedule should provide added entertainment.

"I think it’s great, a bit of a mix up, it’s different," Button said. "I’ve only had this three or four times in my career - qualifying and the race on the same day - and I think it mixes it up and makes it exciting and hopefully the fans will feel the same."

Daniel Ricciardo spent qualifying dancing with team-mate Daniil Kvyat in the pit lane, and he says he is happy with the laps he completed in final practice as he looks to set his car up on race day.

"We still got some running in," Ricciardo said. "I am happy that we did some laps in P3. The afternoon, it would have been nice to know early about the postponement but you have to wait because you never know what it might do.

"Sunday is going to be busy. I always find on Sunday that you wait around a lot for the race, so there won’t be any waiting around, we will go straight into qualifying and into the race, and I am looking forward to that."

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