New qualifying for next season
From the start of the 2005 season, the grid position of a driver will be based on the aggregate lap times set in the first and second qualifying sessions. During the final round of the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship season, the Formula One commission agreed to the FIA’s proposal for qualifying.
In 2005, as in 2003 and 2004, qualifying will consist of two qualifying sessions. However, next year, both sessions will be crucial for the drivers’ grid position, with the first session taking place on Saturday from 14.00hrs local time and the second session on Sunday from 10.00hrs local time.
As in 2004, both sessions will be single lap qualifying sessions, however, in 2005 drivers will contest the Saturday session in the reverse order of their finishing positions in the previous race. The teams may decide the amount of fuel they use for this session.
For the Sunday qualifying session, the cars may be refuelled, but the amount of fuel used for this session may not be changed for the race, and the same regulation is applied for the set-up. The aggregate of the lap times set in the Saturday and Sunday sessions will then decide the grid positions.
“For the first time TV will be able to show all the cars doing a flat-out lap that counts for the grid with minimum fuel,” said FIA President Max Mosley, “And then that will be combined with the other one on the following morning, so the complaint that we never see the cars with minimum fuel going flat-out is answered.”
“At the same time, by placing them in Parc Fermé we prevent them making qualifying specials,” added Mosley. “This is important. And on race day, we've still got what we've got now, which adds to the whole prospect. And, because you aggregate the times, you double the chance of somebody messing up and not being at the front of the grid. I was always against aggregated times because it complicates things, but I have to admit that this is a good plan.”
In 2004, Formula One had its first experience of Sunday qualifying – but only because of an act of nature, and beyond the sport’s control. During the Japanese Grand Prix, the threat of a typhoon led to the cancellation of the complete Saturday programme, with the back-to-back qualifying sessions postponed to Sunday morning.
