GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Jericoke on September 15, 2019, 04:59:05 PM
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https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-autosport/1177572/F1-qualifying-axed-2020-Ferrari-Matteo-Binotto-mini-race (https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-autosport/1177572/F1-qualifying-axed-2020-Ferrari-Matteo-Binotto-mini-race)
Not sure if there is any validity to this, but the F1 teams want to 'fix' Saturday and replace the current qualifying format with a mini-race.
Clearly the Monza qualifying showed that the current system can be 'gamed' to the point of ridiculousness, but we've all followed F1 long enough to know that ANY rules in F1 will eventually be bent into a pretzel that makes a mockery of the concept of 'rules'.
If F1 wants to create value for paying spectators, maybe go back to the original 'qualifying' of taking the fastest time from practice. Replace Qualifying with a fourth practice session, and see how many fans skip Friday if it means missing the possible pole position lap.
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Indy car addresses this by splitting the field. Works OK but none of their tracks is as fast as Monza. Road America is probably the closest, but a draft doesn't get as much return. Maybe they should consider Indy 500 style single car qually at least at Monza and Spa.
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I am wondering if enough fans visit on Friday's to make the day worthwhile. Myself, I've only attended 3 GPs in my lifetime and never went on Fridays - but I am probably not a good example.
If they cancel Fridays (not a new suggestion, I don't think) and returned to the old format of your best time from two practice sessions (on Saturday), that would be a good solution. It would save some costs and also give teams less time to fine tune their cars for the race on Sunday because they would risk not setting a quick qualifying time. Less fine tuning means more surprises during the race in my view.
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World Super Bikes has introduced an extra sprint race that provides half points and sets the grid for the 'main' race. Good for spectators but bad for the teams - particularly if there is a crash!
Personally I think F1 is falling behind other series in terms of 'value for money' for spectators at the track. When I was younger I used to go to UK Grand Prix for the whole weekend. Now I do not think enough happens on Friday and Saturday to justify the cost (bluntly, I don't think enough happens on a Sunday to justify the cost due to fairly boring races and very poor support races but that is another topic!). So perhaps something more exciting than current Quali might be worthwhile. A Saturday sprint race might be interesting.
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The only problem I have with Quali now is that ESPN moved it to one of their extra-super-high-priced channels so most of us can't watch it any more. Other than that, it's often the high point of an F1 weekend.
Indy used to draw a pretty good crowd for Fridays. That was when teams could run a third car (T car) on Fridays for their reserve driver. Indy also had a fair sized crowd on Thursday. They had the pit walkabout, driver autograph sessions and other Thursday-only attractions. Thursday admission was free with the Fri-Sat-Sun ticket package. I would go over on Wednesday & be there waiting when they opened the ates on Thursday morning.
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:good: :good: :good:
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Indy car addresses this by splitting the field. Works OK but none of their tracks is as fast as Monza. Road America is probably the closest, but a draft doesn't get as much return. Maybe they should consider Indy 500 style single car qually at least at Monza and Spa.
They had the single car qualifying one year... I was the only person
in the world that liked it