This season has been quite the extreme when it comes to wet weather, with Spa witnessing intermittent rains which ultimately forced F1 stewards to abort the race after hardly 4 laps. Now, a similar scenario is potentially growing out of Sochi ahead of the Russian Grand Prix.

The upcoming Grand Prix is hanging by a thread as the weather is likely to be dreadful throughout the weekend, especially on Saturday. But, we’ve still got a day in hand to worry about qualifying. Instead, let’s look at how the weather will play out during FP1, FP2, and FP3.

Weather on Friday’s FP1 & FP2 at the Russian Grand Prix

The good news is that the weather models are anticipating a rather pleasant Friday for Sochi and its surroundings with the rain threat no longer in the frame.

Friday is likely to be the warmest day of the race weekend in Krasnodar Krai, with a possible high of 18°C. The cars are likely to take part in FP1 and FP2 under a rather overcast sky, and this could well be the only day where we might be able to see the blue skies.

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Wind should remain calm during FP1 but is likely to pick up going into the afternoon. The wind is likely to gust up to 30 km/hr during FP2 making it a rather tacky session for the drivers. Other than a tad warm day with a little bit of breeze, there isn’t much to expect from Friday.

Weather on Saturday’s final F1 practice

This is where things could get very tricky, and no, we’re not exaggerating. Conditions are indeed looking absolutely dreadful for an F1 session to take place on Saturday morning.

Rain is set to pick up late on Friday night and is expected to get heavier as we move into Saturday. Hence, as of now, a non-disruptive FP3 at Sochi is off the cards. There are also high possibilities that the stewards might call off the session.

Temperature is likely to remain much colder compared to Friday, with the high revolving around 14°C. And it is going to be very windy throughout FP3, with gusts possibly racing up to 45 km/hr.

Therefore, F1 teams will look to squeeze their simulation programmes into the two sessions on Friday and possibly get some much-needed data on the wet tires during FP3. This is quite unlike the Sochi we’ve seen in the past. So, will this highly unusual weather produce some surprising results on Saturday and Sunday?

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