Qualifying restructured

[The Artist.....]

According to Christian Horner, qualifying changes were not fully understood before the season; it seems that F1 teams should pay more attention to what fans say. It was glaringly obvious that there was an incentive for teams to go out early in the session, and then sit (unless there was clear opportunity for improvement).

Because of the structure that eliminations started after 7 minutes, if a driver made an error on their first run, and found themselves at the bottom of the pile, then there was not enough time for them to come in, refuel, change tyres, and have another run at it.

Similarly, if a driver found themselves being edged towards the drop out zone, because it takes a minimum of 3 minutes to set a lap time (from being sat in the pits), there was no way for the teams to get out in time.

In my opinion, the only way that this sort of qualifying would improve the show is if cars were being timed from the end of sector 1 to the end of sector 1; then a car could genuinely come out of the pits, and go almost immediately onto a flying lap (or 2). However, even this wouldn't be efficient, as tyres, brakes, etc would be cold!

 

[The Pits]

Well, to be honest, I was hoping for the best, and my optimism was clearly unfounded. I shall in future revert to pessimistic type.

I did like the comment this weekend, I cannot remember who from (DC?) When a TP said, "we are listening to the Fans, and have made a decision to revert to the previous format"

"So which fans said Quali needed changing then?"

anyhoo, in all this, I think that all parties are trying to distance themselves from the decision which implemented the changes, even though it would appear that this would not have been put in place without approval from the teams, Bernie AND the FIA. They are all at fault.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Thankfully this episode will be long forgotten before this season is through. In a decade or two, F1 junkies will have a laugh at the nonsense that occurred on March 19, 2016. A minor footnote really.

The most worrying thing about this whole saga though was the way it was implemented. Just a clusterfuck from the get-go.

 

[Titch]

It will be interesting to see how Haas get to grips with qualifying, now it's the real deal.

 

[F1Brits_90]

It will be interesting to see how Haas get to grips with qualifying, now it's the real deal.

Could be interesting because I think guterriez went 3rd on that lap he was timed out on

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Well it's looking more like the u-turn on ditching the new qualifying format will suffer another u-turn and we'll have a hybrid format - elimination in Q1/2 and old-style in Q3. Todt has been pushing the elimination-style and now Bernie is backing him. They just don't have a clue do they?
Ecclestone backs revised F1 elimination qualifying plan

 

[cider_and_toast]

For crying out loud, is he on Crack?

"I am a prudent man, and new things must be tested," he said. "The new qualifying caused a bit of shock, but maybe we can salvage the good of the format."

Salvage the good? Hmmm list of what was good about qualifying in Australia:

1) There was a qualifying session

erm, that's it.

It would also appear from that article, in true Bernie 'put up or shut up' style that there will be 2 options, accept a tweaked format or retain the original knock out format. So no going back to the format used last year then.

Hi face, have you met palm yet ?

 

[Greenlantern101]

 

[FB]

Meh, it's qualifying. Okay, last week Q3 in particular was an utter farce but - repeat after me - "You don't get points on a Saturday".

 

[ATL11]

Well it's looking more like the u-turn on ditching the new qualifying format will suffer another u-turn and we'll have a hybrid format - elimination in Q1/2 and old-style in Q3. Todt has been pushing the elimination-style and now Bernie is backing him. They just don't have a clue do they?
Ecclestone backs revised F1 elimination qualifying plan

I'm reading between the lines on this, so after:

3 Rules Changes on Qualifying prior to Australia
1 Rule Change immediately after Australia
We may now have 1 more Qualifying Rule Change prior to Bahrain.

Basically, even after a total embarrassment in front of whole globe & then common sense prevailing, we are now going ignore Common Sense to return to the snazzy (but just for the first minutes) elimination qualifying in Q1 & Q2, then 2015 qualifying rules for Q3.

This latest change is because F1 needs to be seen as embracing Change, though I'm reading between the lines and is it nothing to do with the race promoters who wanted the change in the first place a little annoyed they haven't got they wanted in the first place and a revamped Saturday, so they can sell more tickets.......

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Looks like no change for Bahrain!
F1 forced to keep elimination qualifying for Bahrain GP

 

[Greenlantern101]

I'm starting to get pissed off with all the bullshit. Isn't it amazing how they go to such extra lengths to drive off even the most hardened fans.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Extraordinarily disappointing to say the least.

It's possible this is a direct reaction to the GPDA letter. Bernie and Jean (wherever they are) seem to be the only ones on record supporting this format. Along with Fernley at FI, which I'm not even sure has a vote.

Bahrain could be an almighty shitstorm. Next they'll tell us they're using the Endurance Circuit layout again!

 

[Johnny Carwash]

Maybe they thought that it doesn't matter keeping the knock out format for qualifying in Bahrain, as they wont be that many people there to watch it a the circuit anyway.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I have to confess I didn't mind the new format initially, especially after they managed to get the on-screen graphics working properly - before that I didn't have a clue what was going on. I quite liked that it gave more screen time to teams that wouldn't normally get it - each car that was about to get eliminated had a fair portion of a lap being covered. It just wasn't very exciting. Q3 really showed up the flaws in the system though.

 

[teabagyokel]

And there were those who told us the team's wouldn't do a better job back in 2009. They sorted it.

Ecclestone is an utter cretin.

 

[Greenlantern101]

-this space left intentionally blank-

 

[racecub]

Can't believe they're not changing it! All that completely bad press from all quarters and they're not changing it!

 

[F1Brits_90]

Salvage the good? Hmmm list of what was good about qualifying in Australia:

1) There was a qualifying session

2) it ended

But as I put tv coverage thread, I thInk bernie days are numbered because the news are I think getting a privately bit annoyed of Him chasing the money to detriment of sport & ive never known a sport try to self destruct Its self so much

 

[snowy]

They shoot horses, don't they?