Requests to move the Chinese Grand Prix ahead to Saturday were rejected by the FIA. The discussion was started in an effort to prevent a race cancelation due to poor weather conditions expected for Sunday.
Each driver only managed to complete less than 10 laps of running on Friday, as the day was stopped for poor weather conditions. Conditions red flagged the first free practice session for roughly 40 minutes and the session was stopped shortly after it was resumed. The second free practice session was cancelled, also due to the same poor weather conditions.
The stoppages and cancelation were caused by low hanging clouds covering the area. Although track conditions were relatively fine, the flight visibility was poor. Conditions were bad enough to close a local airport.
The poor conditions in the sky meant that the medical helicopter would be unable to fly and land at the nearby hospital safely. The preferred hospital in the area is less than 40km away from the circuit, but it would take over 20 minutes for an ambulance to reach that hospital. The nearest hospital is 5km away, but poor traffic conditions would prevent the ambulance from travelling there within the required time.
For safety reasons, the FIA requires the medical helicopter to be ready to fly or an ambulance to reach a nearby hospital within 20 minutes. Since neither of these conditions could be met, the FIA was unable to run the sessions.
With more cloud cover expected for Sunday during the race time, the Formula One teams approached the FIA to request that they move the race to Saturday to avoid it from being canceled. The FIA ruled out the idea, expecting that the clouds on Sunday would be higher and it would be windier, making it safe for the helicopter to fly.
