Changes To Qualifying

[marmer]

Would keep the grid closer in championship positions and stop Hamilton from running away with it I like it. Basically forcing Hamilton to start last gives him such s disadvantage that your more likely to win a race starting slightly higher up as your in a car only just slower than the Mercedes should be very difficult to pass. While much faster than the current midfield teams and bottom teams which will all be tripping up over eachother. So currently it should mean that you get a much higher % of Ferrari and red bulls on pole on Sunday and wining the races until Hamilton starts not last due to losing his lead in the championship.

Also one would assume the undercut would be great as you have a naturally faster car and quicker tyres. With the overcut being even less good than it is now.

[saviour stivala]

“Possibly in 2021 instead of qualifying where it is the driver who sets the best time in Q3 will be on pole position for the race the following day, there will be a mini-race in place and whoever wins the race will be at the front of the grid for the following day”.

[Just_a_fan]

At least it won't be brought in this season, which would effectively kill Hamilton's title hopes and thus be entirely unfair. The teams and drivers can spend the winter figuring out the best way to perform on Saturday in order to get maximum points on Sunday. It seems to me that drivers won't want to be leading the championship for much of the season. In effect, we'll have a season-long attempt to be not-first such as we had during Monza's Q3 mess.

[NL_Fer]

Will they introduce the sprinklers in Les Castellet also?

[strad]

I don't think fans want to see more passing but rather more close wheel to wheel racing where in almost any of the teams might pull out a win on any given Sunday.

[marmer]

What would happen at the start of a season using the previous year has never been a true indication of a cars performance or new drivers who don't have any previous information to go off.
More so if a team promotes a young top talent like red bull have been known for would they automatically start on pole as they have no points even mid season at least qualification at the moment is fair for everyone and can't really be gamed to an advantage apart from top teams doing q2 on the harder compound and they don't always do that anyway

[izzy]

What would happen at the start of a season using the previous year has never been a true indication of a cars performance or new drivers who don't have any previous information to go off.

Yes i was wondering this. Perhaps they'll start the season with an old-fashioned qualifying? And at Monaco too. They can mix n match

[Just_a_fan]

I reckon a random draw makes more sense. Every driver gets to start at each grid slot during the season. E.g. you draw your first number, say 12, and then start 12th. But 12 gets taken out of your numbers so you can't draw it again. So everyone will start on pole once, P2 once etc all the way down to last place once.

It makes as much sense as the lottery of a qualifying race.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Turn Fp3 into a reverse wdc position grid sprint race, take the results of that and add them to qualifying as it currently is to establish the grid for the grand prix.

It works for every race except the first one and Monaco.

[Mattchu]

[914hald]

Turn Fp3 into a reverse wdc position grid sprint race, take the results of that and add them to qualifying as it currently is to establish the grid for the grand prix.

It works for every race except the first one and Monaco.

I quite like that idea.

If Fp3 was the sprint race, with reverse championship order, with points and normal quali procedure for main race, then you would have something to race for All the time, so it would still benefit, being the one with best results combined over the entire year.

I don't see their proposal working, as teams will work out where to end the races to maximise combined results.

[izzy]

I don't see their proposal working, as teams will work out where to end the races to maximise combined results.

in the proposed system they only score points on Sunday, so there's nothing better than getting as high up as they can, both days, and scoring as many points as they can, whenever they get the chance. It's bulletproof.

[ENGINE TUNER]

Turn Fp3 into a reverse wdc position grid sprint race, take the results of that and add them to qualifying as it currently is to establish the grid for the grand prix.

It works for every race except the first one and Monaco.

I quite like that idea.

If Fp3 was the sprint race, with reverse championship order, with points and normal quali procedure for main race, then you would have something to race for All the time, so it would still benefit, being the one with best results combined over the entire year.

I don't see their proposal working, as teams will work out where to end the races to maximise combined results.

Yes, a driver would be forced to display some type of good racecraft rather than just start from pole and cruise from the front.

Also it would drastically increase the number of spectators at the track and on tv on Saturday, and possibly on sunday as well.

The reverse wdc position grid will keep the championship closer through the season. It really has so many upsides and no downsides that I could think of.

The only problems would be related to difficult cars and tracks for passing, crash happy drivers, improper or nonexistent stewarding by the FIA.

Whoever had the "bright" idea to give the faster cars a head start doomed us to at least half the races being processional borefests.

[Just_a_fan]

It really has so many upsides and no downsides that I could think of.

The only problems would be related to difficult cars and tracks for passing, crash happy drivers, improper or nonexistent stewarding by the FIA.

So there are downsides then, as you highlight.

Does anyone remember last year's Singapore GP? The one where Hamilton, being chased by Verstappen, came up behind back markers who were engaged in a battle of their own? It was extremely difficult for Hamilton and Verstappen to safely pass those cars even with the benefit of blue flags and much faster cars. Does anyone really think that the guys starting at the back will be able to make real progress through the field at many of the tracks? Then factor in the aggressive defending exhibited by half of the grid and you have a recipe for GP weekends to turn in to demolition derbies. You want that? Go watch NASCAR.

The proposal says "well done, you've been successful in building the best car and attracting top talent to drive it, now here's a big penalty. Oh, and by the way, the penalty might also cost you a lot of money if the less effective guys ahead of you mess up".

We will see teams using junior team/number 2 driver tactics, almost certainly, to affect the qualifying race. Piquet Jnr, anyone? That's not racing as a skill, that's racing as politics.

[dans79]

It really has so many upsides and no downsides that I could think of.

The only problems would be related to difficult cars and tracks for passing, crash happy drivers, improper or nonexistent stewarding by the FIA.

So there are downsides then, as you highlight.

Does anyone remember last year's Singapore GP? The one where Hamilton, being chased by Verstappen, came up behind back markers who were engaged in a battle of their own? It was extremely difficult for Hamilton and Verstappen to safely pass those cars even with the benefit of blue flags and much faster cars. Does anyone really think that the guys starting at the back will be able to make real progress through the field at many of the tracks? Then factor in the aggressive defending exhibited by half of the grid and you have a recipe for GP weekends to turn in to demolition derbies. You want that? Go watch NASCAR.

The proposal says "well done, you've been successful in building the best car and attracting top talent to drive it, now here's a big penalty. Oh, and by the way, the penalty might also cost you a lot of money if the less effective guys ahead of you mess up".

We will see teams using junior team/number 2 driver tactics, almost certainly, to affect the qualifying race. Piquet Jnr, anyone? That's not racing as a skill, that's racing as politics.

Honestly at the rate they're going I'm just going to stop watching F1, as it seems most won't be happy until it's as random and chaotic as absolutely possible.