Return to 2015 Qualy format
And the stand off has resulted in a cave in by FIA President Jean Todt and the rights holder CEO Bernie Ecclestone as the teams turn on their unity muscles. It was a great show of strength by the teams as they emulate the strength of the driver unity to get a say in the future of the sport.
But when we stop for a moment to look at how the new format came into being, there was an air of haste in the way it was announced in the week leading to the Grand Prix weekend in Australia. Haste almost always hints at half baked and not well thought through concepts. And almost always brings about some level of doubt. Credit to the teams and drivers, they gave it the benefit of the doubt and as was predicted, failed to deliver the bang that was hoped would happen by the proponents of the idea.
The exercise sort of disintegrated into a ridiculous farce when the FIA insisted on giving it another go at Bahrain. Which also resulted in what happened in Australia. At Bahrain, murmurs of an aggregate system began to surface as the FIA and the promoters offered the teams two options for qualy which did not include the 2015 format which the team and the drivers had clearly stated was their preference. This set the scene for a blinking contest that left the FIA and the promoter with egg in the face. Hooray to the Teams and drivers.
While this is great is news to us fans, it reveals an enduring problem in F1, what l call the "Triangle of power tussle" which is getting in the way of the sport navigating its way forward. This is a huge handicap for a sport with many inherent diversification of opinions ordinarily, as such every change meets with some level of skepticism and derision. As did the 2015 Qualy format in its infancy before it proved itself. But this change happened in the face of mostly unanimous consensus that a change was required and qualy was the main area where change would be most effective.
The 2016 change to qualy on the other hand was generally felt unnecessary as the 2015 format was still perceived to be fine. Also, the last two races has shown that the three tyre choices, the parity of engine between supplier teams and supplied teams and the single paddle clutch system has produced the desired spice that the 2016 qualy was supposed to deliver.
This sort of gives the driver's view some credence on why the decision process of F1 needs a shake down and changes. Taking the Triangle of Power into consideration, you begin to see that the drivers are barking up a powerful tree.
