Order of cars on track in Qualifying

[Wynters]

I suspect this is a very stupid question so my apologies if this proves to be the case.

Throughout a standard Quali session, the track will be fastest for the last car to cross the start/finish lap (excluding weather variations) due to rubber being laid down constantly. Therefore, crossing the line last is relatively valuable. Why isn't there a constant battle, particularly in Q3, to be the last one over the line? We've seen it occasionally over the years but it seems to be quite rare. I've long suspected that the teams come to a decision between themselves about the order in which drivers will cross that line specifically to avoid multiple drivers having their laps compromised due to jockeying for position. This would go out of the window under changeable conditions and, perhaps not coincidentally, it's on these sorts of occasions that we see driving messing about with each other. Basically I was wandering how true that might be and, if it's not true, what the real situation is?

[Phil]

If you leave your lap last, you may find yourself vulnerable to a yellow flag. Also sometimes, temperature are dropping, so conditions could also get worse. Having a large enough gap and being able to prepare your tires perfectly is just as important, therefore i think being half a minute before or after your conpetitors is close enough for nigh on equal conditions...

[Just_a_fan]

being able to prepare your tires perfectly is just as important

With the current tyres, I think this is the absolute key issue. If the tyres are out of their window, it doesn't matter if the track is a tenth or two quicker at the end of the session as the tyres won't be able to benefit anyway.

[Big Tea]

As above posts, so what they usually do is get a 'good lap' in to be sure of being in the top few, then gamble on a late banzai. Often the car will get part way around a late lap and realise it is not going to beat the banker so will not bother finishing it, thus seeming not to be out at the end.

[zac510]

These Pirelli tyres doesn't seem to rubber the track as much as tyres of the past might have.