New Qualifying format a flop or not?

[Rollo]

I loved the 'old' 'old' format. Every Driver has one crack at a fast lap. A single mistake would cost dearly. Beautiful. You all know the story.

I think that that's unforgiving.

I think two laps. Run through once; then again. Fastest lap counted. Running order determined by the fastest laps per driver in the "free" practice sessions.

At least that way, you'll see drivers who've done poorly one their first run, pull out whatever they can for their second.

[The Black Knight]

I felt that the new qualifying system worked quite well for Q1 and Q2. It was unfortunate that it was such a disaster for Q3. And now the new qualifying is staying for Bahrain because RBR and McLaren wanted to get rid of it entirely. They didn't want to compromise on a new solution of keeping Q1 and Q2 as it is and changing Q3 to the old format, which would have been the sensible approach. Then they could have tried tweaking it in a couple of races once it has been better thought out. The new qualifying system just needs a few tweaks is all.

This goes back to a core issue currently facing F1 and that is that McLaren and RBR shouldn't have the power to block qualifying changes if it is in the best interest of the sport. They should be told that this is the way it is going to be and that's it.

[MrJan]

I loved the 'old' 'old' format. Every Driver has one crack at a fast lap. A single mistake would cost dearly. Beautiful. You all know the story.

That's quite tedious though. I quite like the raw nature of having one shot at a hot lap but it really was dull to tune into for an hour.

I felt that the new qualifying system worked quite well for Q1 and Q2. It was unfortunate that it was such a disaster for Q3.

I found it needlessly confusing and didn't really think it offered anything more than last year's system, other than the possible injustice of a quick driver getting a grid slot based on the timing of the team.

If they want random grids to try and force some kind of excitement then they may as well go with a lottery system instead. Personally I thought we had a system that was about as interesting as it got. There was reasonable track action for most of the session, a tense final few minutes

[Bagwan]

I felt that the new qualifying system worked quite well for Q1 and Q2. It was unfortunate that it was such a disaster for Q3. And now the new qualifying is staying for Bahrain because RBR and McLaren wanted to get rid of it entirely. They didn't want to compromise on a new solution of keeping Q1 and Q2 as it is and changing Q3 to the old format, which would have been the sensible approach. Then they could have tried tweaking it in a couple of races once it has been better thought out. The new qualifying system just needs a few tweaks is all.

This goes back to a core issue currently facing F1 and that is that McLaren and RBR shouldn't have the power to block qualifying changes if it is in the best interest of the sport. They should be told that this is the way it is going to be and that's it.

OK , so how do you tweak it to make it any better ?

[anfield5]

It is just another pathetic gimmick aimed at making a broken F1 less predictable. How many times are we going have to put up with silly gimmicks like this?

Last year's quali was fine, even better go back to q1 on Friday afternoon with all drivers having an hour to set their best time, and repeat the show on Saturday. It was simple it was fair and it worked, it also gave Friday a purpose.

The function of qualifying is to set the race start order i.e. best to the front, not to try and mix up the grid, they may as well just draw lots out of a hat, or start the race in reverse order of the previous race finish

[steveaki13]

The function of qualifying is to set the race start order i.e. best to the front, not to try and mix up the grid, they may as well just draw lots out of a hat, or start the race in reverse order of the previous race finish

What you mean like a proper motorsport? and not like a "show"?

wow radical thinking. I like it Anfield.

[The Black Knight]

I found it needlessly confusing and didn't really think it offered anything more than last year's system, other than the possible injustice of a quick driver getting a grid slot based on the timing of the team.

If they want random grids to try and force some kind of excitement then they may as well go with a lottery system instead. Personally I thought we had a system that was about as interesting as it got. There was reasonable track action for most of the session, a tense final few minutes

With such a change to the qualifying system it's hardly surprising that a few found it confusing. That confusion would probably lift after a few rounds but, it's true all the same, that any sunshine viewer just switching on the TV for an hour would find it very hard to follow what was happening on track.

OK , so how do you tweak it to make it any better ?

There are numerous things that can be done. The most obvious thing for me being to revert to the old qualifying system for Q3 or divide Q3 up into two slices eliminating the bottom four in the first half and the top four in the second half. This would force cars to run again. There are plenty of options.

It is just another pathetic gimmick aimed at making a broken F1 less predictable. How many times are we going have to put up with silly gimmicks like this?

Last year's quali was fine, even better go back to q1 on Friday afternoon with all drivers having an hour to set their best time, and repeat the show on Saturday. It was simple it was fair and it worked, it also gave Friday a purpose.

The function of qualifying is to set the race start order i.e. best to the front, not to try and mix up the grid, they may as well just draw lots out of a hat, or start the race in reverse order of the previous race finish

Everyone seems so focused on the negatives of qualifying and there was a big negative to Q3 but the positives I take from this is that the drivers have finally spoken out and humiliated F1 bosses. This has been coming for a long time. They got their warning that this would happen with the current qualifying and they got their deserved humiliation as well. As a positive, maybe the next time they will listen to what the Engineers and drivers are going to say.

Yes, we all know that there is fundamental issues in F1 that need to be addressed but one of the fundamental issues is how decisions are made across the board and hopefully this will be the catalyst to change that process of governance.

[AndyL]

It is just another pathetic gimmick aimed at making a broken F1 less predictable. How many times are we going have to put up with silly gimmicks like this?

Last year's quali was fine, even better go back to q1 on Friday afternoon with all drivers having an hour to set their best time, and repeat the show on Saturday. It was simple it was fair and it worked, it also gave Friday a purpose.

The function of qualifying is to set the race start order i.e. best to the front, not to try and mix up the grid, they may as well just draw lots out of a hat, or start the race in reverse order of the previous race finish

The trouble with the old Friday/Saturday qualifying was that everyone who bought a ticket for Saturday wasted their money if the conditions turned out to have been better on Friday. The grid times all come from Friday and Saturday becomes an hour-long anticlimax.

The recent 3-phase knockout was good, and didn't need any fiddling around with, but a simple 1 hour on Saturday is a good system too. You'd see plenty of on-track action with that simple system if they just eased the limits on tyres and engines.

If we want to give Friday more of a purpose, I'd allow unlimited tyres and engines on Friday but not for the regular race drivers. It would give more of an opportunity to try out new drivers on Friday, without having to disadvantage one of your race drivers relative to the rest of the field.

[MrJan]

If we want to give Friday more of a purpose, I'd allow unlimited tyres and engines on Friday but not for the regular race drivers. It would give more of an opportunity to try out new drivers on Friday, without having to disadvantage one of your race drivers relative to the rest of the field.

That would be good, and hopefully would give teams a better chance to 'catch up' with design when a certain car is miles in front of the rest. Sadly it doesn't fit with the eco message though.

[The Black Knight]

If we want to give Friday more of a purpose, I'd allow unlimited tyres and engines on Friday but not for the regular race drivers. It would give more of an opportunity to try out new drivers on Friday, without having to disadvantage one of your race drivers relative to the rest of the field.

How many teams are going to risk that though? Testing new drivers carries with it an inherent high risk of them putting the car in the wall on a Friday, resulting in a potential complete rebuild over night. I can't see Mercedes or any top flight team taking this chance. The only reason another team might is for financial purposes.