"Brendan DJ Murphy" wrote in message
...

snip

Formula One officials took the unprecedented step of postponing
qualifying to the morning of the race

Not that unprecedented, from AtlasF1 :-

"The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix at Japan's Aida circuit was rescheduled from
April to October after an earthquake hit the region. Ten years before that,
the June 1985 Belgian Grand Prix was called off the night before the event
after drivers protested about the dangerous condition of the disintegrating
track surface. It was rescheduled and held in September."

Jon.