American Marconi Wireless News - Rain forecast adds new element to combustible Japanese GP

Rain is forecast in the morning and could continue into the early afternoon race itself, presenting a new challenge after the elements disrupted practice and qualifying.

Sparks from the cars ignited dry grass around the track and forced the action to stop on five separate occasions over Friday and Saturday.

Wind was also a factor, although conditions have stayed dry so far this week.

Red Bull's four-time world champion Max Verstappen will start from pole ahead of championship leader Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who finished a lacklustre eighth in qualifying, said he was hoping for rain to even the field.

"I am excited, I genuinely love the rain," said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

"It's going to be tricky but when you have a qualifying like I just had, you hope for the rain."

Two separate fires halted Friday's second practice before two more brought out the red flag again in Saturday's final session before qualifying.

"Ahead of qualifying, all available time and resources will be focused on further dampening the grass," an official from motorsport's governing body FIA said.

A further blaze erupted during qualifying though, halting the session for around eight minutes.

"We've lost count how many red flags there have been due to grass fires this weekend," the Alpine team said in a social media post.

Norris said the changing weather meant there was "no point trying to think of too many things" before the race.

"I think the unknown of the weather is going to make it exciting and nerve-wracking for everyone," said the British driver.

T.Ward--AMWN