Friday’s entire Formula 1 schedule at the Eifel Grand Prix was abandoned due to persistent inclement weather conditions in and around the Nürburgring region.
Low-lying cloud and rain persisted throughout Friday in western Germany.
The medical helicopter was unable to fly and on safety grounds the pit exit was not opened by Race Control.
Due to the rural location of the Nürburgring the designated medical facility required in the event of a serious incident is not reachable within 20 minutes by road.
As a consequence track action cannot take place if conditions prevent the medical helicopter from being able to make a visual landing at the designated hospital in Koblenz.
Updates were given at 30-minute intervals during the respective sessions but conditions did not change.
At 16:00 local time it was confirmed that the pit lane would remain closed for the remainder of the second practice session.
It is the first time since last year’s Japanese Grand Prix that Formula 1 has lost a full day of track running at an event.
On that occasion Saturday’s track action was abandoned, with qualifying moved to Sunday, in anticipation of Typhoon Hagibis.
Weather conditions are expected to improve across the remainder of the weekend in the region.
The current forecast indicates that sunny intervals will prevail on Saturday and Sunday, though it will remain cold, with temperatures likely to max out at 8c.
