New qualifying format...

[fenix4life]

Possible change is an aggregate time from two laps.... WHAT THE F$#@!?

From the aggregate time I would deduct a SWAG factor and a possible fan boost.

[Sevach]

I hope teams block it and we get this same exact crap one more time.

Why does the FIA is so lacking in common sense?

[PlatinumZealot]

There is no leadership.

[Vasconia]

Kimi as usual is the voice of reason and got straight to the point .In reference to qualifying :
"There is so much politics and bullshit in F1 that it is crazy sometimes," he said. "People from the outside must look at us and think 'what stupid people, what are they doing?'.

Good job Kimi, 100% agree.

Here we have shared some good ideas, perhaps we should lead FIA in a near future, no one can make a worse job than those guys.

[Chuckjr]

Is Bernie trying to purposefully devalue F1 for some long term greed based reason?

[Just_a_fan]

I'm trying to decide if Bernie and Todt are being serious or just playing a game now.

The game is politics. What we're seeing is a power struggle between the FIA/FOM and the teams, particularly Mercedes and Ferrari. As is usual in F1, it's being played out in public and noone is looking good as a result.

[thedutchguy]

This whole qualifying mess is making me both sad and angry. Using aggregate times as suggested now is a bunch of BS and devalues the achievement of the guy who sets the fastest lap.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the old format. The problem is dat Ecclestone and the vultures at CVC want more 'spectacle' no matter what is does with the integrity of the sport. I guess he starts to figure out that putting F1 behind a paywall is not a smart long term strategy when i comes to audience growth.

Jean Todt doesn't seem to care much about F1 either. The FIA road safety campaing has his priority, probably because he wants to move up to become a hot shot a the United Nations or something. The only reason Todt doesn't want to revert to the 2015 qualifying system is because he want's to show the world that he doesn't take orders from the teams and that he is boss. Well Mr Todt, that's some great leadership!

I really hope the teams stick together on this one and reject any proposal other than reverting to the 2015 system.

[Henk]

Imagine if Hamilton had lost so much time on his excursion on his first lap in Q3 that he would have been the first car to be eliminated. Then he'd had started 8th instead of pole = exciting race prospects. This is precisely what this new qualifying aims to provoke.

3 tenths and Ricciardo would have kicked him out. He would not have been a able to try another lap.

[a1b2i3r45]

If this aggregate system gets the green light, then in a "normal" session the track will be pretty much empty for the first 10 mins and then everyone will jostle to do 2 laps and tyre change in the last 5-7 mins.

[Manoah2u]

The problem is that this qually format is not made 'for the fans'. there was never a demand for change 'from the fans'.
i find it hard to believe fans brought enough 'negativity' to the table for the qually to change. other things should, but did not and aren't gonna, so that's a indicator that it's not the fans.

the promotors are the ones demanding this change, that much is visible. that is really the reason why it won't change and why it got changed in the first place.

the promotors, lets call them the combination of the sponsors and the tracks for the race venues, saw need for a change for the saturday format. there must have been a decline in attention to F1 in that aspect. honestly, it think that's really down to the fact that ticket prices are rediculously high and that it's just major boring because nobody understands it, and the intervals between q1 and q2, and q2 and q3, paired with teams 'waiting' to have a go at it.

they wanted change and did something which they thought would cause panic - which it does - and send cars on track - which it does - but it is to no prevail because the concept is wrong or poorly executed. and now they cant change it back because it generates 1)attention 2)the old format is no longer accepted by the venues/promotors. so F1 is kindof in a chess game and set itself checkmate.

since going back to the old setting is not going to work, and the 'average' out of 2 laps is too stupid for words, i can see only 1 solution:

don't do 90-second elimination, do a 180-second elimination. or make the q1-q3 event a single grand qually event and make it a 200-second elimination event. every 200 seconds the bottom driver is eliminated, end.

a restricted amount of tire usage but a mandated amount of runs every qually session will see drivers oblidged to go out on track and set a time. the maximum amount of tires they can use during qually makes it variable on whether their time will be enough.

[basti313]

the promotors, lets call them the combination of the sponsors and the tracks for the race venues, saw need for a change for the saturday format.

I think this is the point on which many posters here are wrong. With Saturday everything was ok, or whatever was not ok could have been fixed with more tires. They wanted to mix up the grid for Sunday, nothing else.

The problem for the promoters is, that you can not promote a format with two Mercs disappearing and little to no chance to overtake each other on the track. The average viewer, certainly not most of the people in forums like this one, is interested in who is winning and P2 to P15 is not of his interest. For this big number of people It is just too boring to watch a 2h race just waiting for Ros/Ham making a single fault.

For me the fault is obvious: If you want to mix up the grid you have to mix up the grid. And not go for any stupid Q format, that may once per season put a Merc driver down the grid but has drawbacks every week.

[i70q7m7ghw]

The silliest thing about this is for me I can only really justify the cost of a Saturday or Friday ticket, so currently I'm swaying towards going to Silverstone on the Saturday this year. However, having seen the changes to qualifying, I've changed my mind!

So, promoters, if you are reading this, put it back as it was!!!

[thedutchguy]

The funny thing is that te the commercial rights holder - who's also supposed to be the promotor - doesn't do sh#t to promote the sport. If you ever see advertising or publicity events for F1, it's done by the indivudual event organisers, who are in turn powerless when it comes things like these qualifiying shenanigans.

F1 is - unfortunatly - in a downward spiral which cannot be stopped unless the commercial rights go back to the FIA and people with a long term vision are put in charge. Neither of which are going to happen I'm sad admit.

[GlenDownUnder]

Hi everyone.

This topic has compelled me to register after several years of casual browsing!

I understand the desire for mixed up grids because it never fails to provide excitement.

Here's my proposal for an alternative quali format. Feel free to critique.

Since for this season we already have 3 dry weather compounds selected for each race weekend this offers us the following possibility:

Retain the 2015 qualification framework of 3 sessions where the slowest drivers are eliminated at the end of each session but add the following restrictions:

In Q1 only the softest compound may be used.
In Q2 only the "middle" compound may be used.
In Q3 only the hardest compound may be used.

Eliminated drivers retain their fastest lap times.
Drivers that qualify for the next phase have their times deleted.
At the end of Q3 the grid is ordered by the fastest overall times.

Because of the varying time differences between the tyre compounds chosen for a particular track, the potential is there for drivers eliminated in Q1 or Q2 to have a better lap time than those achieved by those in the latter stages of qualifying.

Thoughts?

Shameless self promotion here, but I really believe this system would work. It reuses the 2015 format (which we all agree wasn't actually broken) with just a minor tweak on allowed tyre compounds (which in itself would already be accommodated by the 3 compound rule brought in this year which seems to be well received). It would definitely mix up the grid in my opinion.

Think about it, its effectively the equivalent of the race day undercut on steroids for quali..

[No Lotus]

Hi everyone.

This topic has compelled me to register after several years of casual browsing!

I understand the desire for mixed up grids because it never fails to provide excitement.

Here's my proposal for an alternative quali format. Feel free to critique.

Since for this season we already have 3 dry weather compounds selected for each race weekend this offers us the following possibility:

Retain the 2015 qualification framework of 3 sessions where the slowest drivers are eliminated at the end of each session but add the following restrictions:

In Q1 only the softest compound may be used.
In Q2 only the "middle" compound may be used.
In Q3 only the hardest compound may be used.

Eliminated drivers retain their fastest lap times.
Drivers that qualify for the next phase have their times deleted.
At the end of Q3 the grid is ordered by the fastest overall times.

Because of the varying time differences between the tyre compounds chosen for a particular track, the potential is there for drivers eliminated in Q1 or Q2 to have a better lap time than those achieved by those in the latter stages of qualifying.

Thoughts?

Shameless self promotion here, but I really believe this system would work. It reuses the 2015 format (which we all agree wasn't actually broken) with just a minor tweak on allowed tyre compounds (which in itself would already be accommodated by the 3 compound rule brought in this year which seems to be well received). It would definitely mix up the grid in my opinion.

Think about it, its effectively the equivalent of the race day undercut on steroids for quali..

Too much disincentive to advance to the next round.

It would work really well, though, if the driver earned a championship point every time he advanced a round in qualifying.