Brazilian GP to start 90 minutes earlier than planned with more rain ahead. Norris wins sprint race

SAO PAULO (AP) — Heavy rain at the Interlagos track washed out qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Sunday's race set to start 90 minutes earlier than originally scheduled amid the forecast of more rain.

Organizers announced qualifying had been postponed Saturday after a two-hour delay, with no cars having the chance to clock any laps.

“The decision was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours. There is a lot of standing water on parts of the circuit which renders conditions unsafe,” Formula One’s governing body FIA said on social media. “As much as we would all like to see competition on track, the safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.”

Qualifying will now take place Sunday at the Sao Paulo circuit.

The FIA said qualifying will start at 7:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT), and the start of the Grand Prix was brought forward from 2 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. (1530 GMT).

“This will ensure we maximize the chances of providing the fans with a day of racing action and both the FIA and F1 believe this change is necessary and the right thing to do for our passionate fans,” the FIA said in a statement.

More than 60,000 fans started emptying the stands shortly after the announcement Saturday that there would be no qualifying that day.

Earlier, McLaren driver Lando Norris won the Formula 1 sprint race to cut his deficit to championship leader Max Verstappen.

But Norris had to thank teammate Oscar Piastri for handing him victory at Interlagos.

Red Bull's Verstappen finished third, but lost one position due to a virtual safety car infringement.

The gap between Norris and Verstappen, with four grands prix and a final sprint race to the end of the season, is now 44 points.

Norris started second on the grid and, late into the 24 laps of the sprint race, Piastri gave way to him.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who also has a long shot at the title, ended fourth, just ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. The stewards' decision after the sprint race pushed him to third ahead of Verstappen.

Mercedes' George Russell, Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Red Bull's Sergio Perez were next best and within points positions.

Norris appeared upset on the team radio about leader Piastri's pace for most of the sprint race.

“I am not sure what I am doing here, mate,” Norris said. “I thought we spoke about this.”

Later, Norris said McLaren had done a good job.

“I am not proud about it but we worked well as a team together so I thank Oscar," he said. “Oscar deserved (a win) but we did what we had to do."

At first, Piastri did not elaborate on the McLaren decision. "A great day for the team and a lot of points. We learned a lot for the race tomorrow,” he said.

Speaking to journalists later, Piastri described the race as “a bit of a tricky one.”

“(Giving way to Norris) is not as fun as winning,” the Australian driver said. “But we've been talking about this for months now.”

Three-time champion Verstappen will find it tough to beat the McLarens in Sunday's race. He has received a five-place grid punishment after changing his engine for the sixth time in the season — the maximum allowed is four.

Stewards said in their decision that Verstappen was “above the minimum time at the virtual safety car end” during the sprint race. The Dutchman received a five-second penalty that dragged him to fourth place. He also picked up one penalty point, and now has a total of seven for the 12-month period.

The tribute to legendary three-time champion Ayrton Senna was also postponed. His title-winning McLaren will be driven by one of his biggest fans, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The safety car drives on the track during a rain delay at the qualifying session ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(Sebastiao Moreira/Pool Photo via AP)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, right, shakes hands with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands after setting the fastest time during the sprint race ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands walks on the track after the sprint race ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

F1 cars wait in line to enter the track from pit lane during the sprint race ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(Sebastiao Moreira/Pool Photo via AP)

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain, left, steers his car to win the sprint race, followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri of Australia, ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(Sebastiao Moreira/Pool Photo via AP)

McLaren driver Lando Norris, of Britain, steers his car during the sprint qualifying session ahead of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix auto race, at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ettore Chiereguini)

MUNICH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 3, 2024--

SimScale GmbH, a pioneer in cloud-native engineering simulation and Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division today announced a strategic partnership to transform how engineering teams deploy advanced structural analysis. The collaboration removes traditional accessibility barriers by delivering the advanced capabilities of Hexagon’s Marc nonlinear finite element solver as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) through SimScale’s intuitive cloud native platform, unlocking unprecedented value for engineering teams.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241202212598/en/

Unlocking Advanced Simulation for Engineering Organizations of all sizes

The joint offering transforms access to advanced design and nonlinear analysis capabilities for engineering organizations that may lack the resources for traditional methods or specialized IT infrastructure. The simulations are delivered through a browser-based platform that makes it easy to integrate advanced simulation into workflows, enabling engineers to innovate without requiring extensive technical expertise.

Empowering Enterprise Design Team Collaboration

Larger, multidisciplinary design teams with existing simulation support will benefit from reduced silos between design and analyst departments, fostering a more collaborative environment. By enabling designers to leverage simulation earlier in the design process, the solution helps teams to streamline their workflows, perform rapid design iterations, reduce physical prototypes and accelerate innovation. This collaborative approach empowers teams to make more informed decisions faster, enhancing overall productivity and design accuracy.

Unrivaled Ease of Use and Scalable Deployment Assured

The joint solution is designed from the ground up for ease of use and deployment speed, requiring no installation or extensive IT support. Engineers can access Hexagon’s proven Marc solver directly through SimScale’s browser-based interface, ensuring a smooth and intuitive user experience. As an advanced nonlinear structural and multi-physics solver, Marc excels in a wide range of engineering applications, making it an invaluable tool for all industry verticals including automotive, aerospace, energy, electronics and manufacturing. Its robust capabilities enable precise simulations of complex material behaviors—including plasticity, hyper-elasticity, and fatigue—allowing engineers to predict damage and failure in structures and components. From manufacturing processes like sheet metal forming to critical sealing analyses in the oil and gas sector, Marc provides comprehensive solutions for tackling the most challenging engineering problems. This capability, combined with the platform's robust and proven technology, ensures that even the most demanding simulations are managed efficiently and effectively in the cloud. In addition, SimScale’s live in-product support provides a unique safety net for all users, as evidenced by G2's ranking of SimScale as 1st in user satisfaction in the Simulation & CAE Software category.

Accelerated Adoption through Product-Led Growth Journeys

The SimScale platform also features a unique product-led-growth approach, supporting > 600k engineers with self-service learning and adoption journeys with transparent user management and real-time support. This enables organizations to quickly onboard and scale their simulation capabilities, driving broad awareness and engagement across teams. In addition, by providing robust simulation templates, the solution simplifies complex analyses via pre-configured setups, enabling non-experts to run accurate simulations easily while ensuring that all simulations adhere to established standards, thus democratizing access and maintaining compliance for the entire team.

“Partnering with SimScale allows us to bring our world-class simulation technology to a wider market,” said Subham Sett, Vice President Multiphysics at Hexagon . “We have found Marc being used very successfully in applications we had never expected from shoe design to 3D printing, and this is a great solution to enable both small businesses and large enterprises to confidently explore challenging nonlinear materials and applications and achieve results faster than ever before.”

“Marc has been an exceptional workhorse for CAE experts for decades. We’ve successfully deployed this technology to manufacturing simulation users through our Virtual Manufacturing Suite. The partnership with SimScale enables us to take a big step forward in fulfilling our vision of democratizing access to all users.”

“This partnership is a major step forward for the engineering community,” said David Heiny, CEO of SimScale. “Our joint solution eliminates the traditional pain points of simulation – from complex installations to heavy local processing – empowering engineers everywhere to harness the full potential of structural analysis.”

Companies interested in understanding how they can access the Marc solver on the SimScale platform can contact SimScale via www.simscale.com/contact-us/

About SimScale

SimScale is the world’s first cloud-native engineering simulation platform, offering powerful and accessible computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA), and thermal simulations. With SimScale, every engineer has access to the power of physics and AI simulation without the need for expensive hardware or software. SimScale is trusted by >600k engineers worldwide to make informed decisions, optimize designs, and innovate faster. For more information, visitwww.simscale.com.

About Hexagon

Hexagon is the global leader in digital reality solutions, combining sensor, software and autonomous technologies. We are putting data to work to boost efficiency, productivity, quality and safety across industrial, manufacturing, infrastructure, public sector, and mobility applications.

Our technologies are shaping production and people related ecosystems to become increasingly connected and autonomous – ensuring a scalable, sustainable future. Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division provides solutions that use data from design and engineering, production and metrology to make manufacturing smarter. For more information, visithexagon.com/mi.

Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B) has approximately 24,500 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately 5.4bn EUR. Learn more at hexagon.com and follow us @HexagonAB.

Advanced nonlinear analysis with Hexagon's Marc™ on SimScale's cloud-native platform (Graphic: Business Wire)