New qualifying

[Monty]

I keep reading it but I'm still confused 
Q1
– Sixteen minutes long;
– All 22 cars are involved;
– After seven minutes the slowest driver is eliminated;
– The slowest driver is then eliminated every one minute and 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag;
– At the end of Q1, seven drivers will have been eliminated, while 15 will progress to Q2;
– The seven eliminated drivers make up positions 16-22 on the grid.

Q2
– Fifteen minutes long;
– The 15 drivers who survived Q1 take part;
– After nine minutes the slowest driver eliminated;
– The slowest driver is then eliminated every one minute and 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag;
– At the end of Q2, a further seven drivers will have been eliminated, while eight progress to Q3;
– The seven eliminated drivers make up positions 9-15 on the grid.

Q3
– Fourteen minutes long;
– The eight drivers who survived Q1 and Q2 take part
– After five minutes the slowest driver eliminated;
– The slowest driver is then eliminated every one minute and 30 seconds thereafter until the chequered flag;
– Two are drivers left in the final one minute and 30 seconds and go head-to-head in the battle for pole position.

It is believed that the new format could come into play as early as in the upcoming season.

[cosworth151]

Quali was about the only thing left in F1 that most everybody agrees works very well. Now the Fools In Authority want to turn that into an impossible to understand mess.


Wonderful.     

[John S]

The big problem I foresee, or blessing whichever way you see it, is a lot of the top teams being forced to use up all their quickest race tyres too soon in Quali. The lesser teams will be able to stick on ultra softs early in Q1 or Q2 pushing others into using up their tyre stock at an alarming rate.

No word though on what tyres the cars will have to start the race on, I guess they will have a free choice of anything they have left with some life left on them.

Also what happens if several cars fail to set laps before the time of the first drop in each Q session?

Oh I've also just realised: - How the hell are the two surviving drivers in Q3 going to know in time at 1m 30secs to go that they are having a shoot out?
The final 2 could be on completely opposite sides of the track and if one has only just crossed the line they may not have enough time to get back round to start another 'do or die' flying lap. 
 

[Alianora La Canta]

OK, I'll translate:

In 2015, teams had just enough tyres to do one banker run followed by a "lull" where not much of anything happened, and a single make-or-break lap.

The tyre allocation has not increased since then (and indeed is fixed for the first 4 races already because teams have to order their compounds 14 weeks in advance).

As such, the optimal strategy is to do a banker lap, followed by a make-or-break lap timed to finish just before the start of the cut-off (delayable if someone breaks down or otherwise cannot make the first phase of a given session). There are not enough tyres to improve on this, so then there will be a "lull" from the start of the cut-off until the end of each session.

So really, it's just condensed the dry knockout rounds to 9, 7 and 5 minutes each... ...unless one team is dominant that they can afford to wait until later to stick on the ultrasofts and knock it out of the park.

It was a silly move, which will do nothing to mix the grids more than they were in 2015, but it was the least silly of the things on the table. If one thing had to make it to the next stage, that one is preferable to, say, reverse grids (turning even the first laps into artificial messes) or time ballast (I can't figure out how that idea is meant to work, even conceptually). More effective would be moving qualifying to the morning (Saturday or Sunday) or, at least, a different time of day to when the race happens, so that at least conditions are likely to be different. It would have been modest in terms of improvement, but not harmful like every single idea the powers-that-be appeared to have yesterday. Needless to say, none of this gives me much hope for F1 being able to rescue itself.



John S, ultrasofts don't get unlocked until Q3. They can be left until the race by teams that miss the top 10, but the value of a tyre that lasts for 3-4 laps and cannot be started upon will in most situations a marginal benefit at best. (The rule about starting on whatever you finished Q2 on if one reaches Q3, or whatever tyres on pleases if not, remains from 2015).

If several people don't set any times, the matter is decided exactly as it was in 2015 when multiple cars didn't set times in qualifying - whoever did most distance (if there are any cars that at least tried to set a time), then whoever set best FP3 time (if any cars did so), then FP2 (ditto) and FP1. Cars which have set no times at all are automatically disqualified from the race and, if permitted to start, must do so from the pit lane.

[Jericoke]

I agree with the idea of putting on a better show during qualifying for fans.  At the track during qualifying there really is nothing going on until all of a sudden there's everyone.

However, this is complicated, it's going to be tough to follow even if you know what's going on, and difficult to explain to casual fans.

Can you be knocked out while you're on a 'hot lap', or can you finish your lap if the... 'chequer flag' (or whatever) has come out?

[Alianora La Canta]

Can you be knocked out while you're on a 'hot lap', or can you finish your lap if the... 'chequer flag' (or whatever) has come out?

Yes. You get knocked out if you are on a hot lap at the time the fateful moment occurs, though you can always go slowly to the pits and impede others if you don't care about your grid place.

[Dare]

Coming to movie houses in March

Dumb and Dumber:The Movie


I hate it

[Scott]

Don't like.

[cosworth151]

If we long time, hard core F1 fans are having a hard time understanding it, how will new fans ever handle it?

[Jericoke]

I'm waiting for the first 'front runner' to finish a lap 0.011 seconds after the cutoff, and have to start in 18th place with a pole sitting time.

That will be amusing, especially if it's Alonso

[lkjohnson1950]

I saw my first F1 race on TV in 1962 or '63. Spa! I think it was CBS and they covered the 18 mile track with about 6 cameras. I just stumbled on it channel flipping (4 channels for your viewing pleasure!) on a Sunday afternoon. Beautiful, sleek machines racing on public roads through the trees. I was instantly hooked. In those days qualifying was simple; every lap of every practice session was timed and your best lap from any period was your time. Clark and Stewart liked to do a flyer early on Saturday and dare anyone to top it. Simpler times. I miss them.

[Dare]

First race I saw was back on CBS was Monte Carlo and a while later
Clark's picture was on sportmagazines cover with a story inside....
from then I was hooked.


I liked the one carat a time qualifying a hell of a lot more
than this joke.

[Ian]

I'm just waiting for the comments about the first time it's used, good job we can't swear on here. 

[cosworth151]

My first one was in 1962 (I think) on ABC Wide World of Sports. I'd read coverage in mags like Car Life, Sports Car Graphic and Road & Track, but seeing it was something else. I'd watch anything race, but F1 quickly became my favorite.

[Scott]

I was only born in the early 60's    I got hooked on motorsports in the early 70's, with NASCAR.  Eventually finding CART after it was formed and then F1 around the same time, but then there were girls, so I probably didn't re-visit F1 until my early 20's...can't say which race it was, but I do remember watching the Belgian GP in '82 when my first F1 hero died in practice.