Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton compared the treacherous conditions to "playing with a rattlesnake" after heavy rain washed out qualifying at the U.S. Grand Prix on Saturday, according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. After five half-hour delays at the Circuit of the Americas, "and the rain and wind only intensifying," organizers "gave up the struggle" to hold qualifying and set a new time of 9am on race day. Hamilton said, "It's a real shame for all these people here in the rain but you just can't mess with Mother Nature. It's difficult to explain how tricky it is out there, difficult for people to understand. I'm imagining it as a rattlesnake, trying to touch a rattlesnake or seeing how close you can get your hand to it." Formula 1 has held qualifying sessions on Sunday before now, most recently in Australia in '13 "when rain and poor light forced the delay." The Japanese Grands Prix in '04 and '10 "also had Sunday qualifying due to a typhoon and rainstorms lashing the Suzuka circuit." With "hardy fans huddling in the grandstands," teams and drivers did their best to "keep spirits up with a range of pitlane antics" relayed on the TV screens. Sauber mechanics "paddled" down the pitlane in a crate on wheels, "with a propeller on the end, pulled by others" (REUTERS, 10/24).
