"Can someone please check what odds I can get for Bernd Maylander in the Safety Car to start from pole and win the race?" joked Team Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok.

Reported Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary: "The rain is more like mizzle; a fine mist-like spray.  But all-enveloping."

Added McLaren on Twitter: "Can't foresee it drying out for the race", while Force India said "It's also very windy".

BBC radio commentator Maurice Hamilton said the Formula Ford single seaters are "slipping and sliding" in a Circuit Gilles Villeneuve support race.

Pole sitter and championship leader Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, pulled a smile when asked how he is preparing for a wet race-day -- the first for F1's new tire supplier Pirelli.

"We brought some rain tires and I brought a coat and an umbrella," said the Red Bull star.