New qualifying format...

[henry]

Penalizing fastest/best driver and team is ridiculous.
Let`s apply that to other sports :
Football - Barca players must play barefoot

Barça players don't have a force field around them that stops opponents getting close *

Opponents boots don't wear out through constant pushing against the force field.

The problem isn't penalising the fastest/best, that's a palliative solution. The problem is cars can't race. Just today Verstappen, who's no slouch at passing, was nearly 2 seconds a lap quicker than the cars ahead and he couldn't even make an attempt at passing.

* I'm not sure about Messi.

[FrukostScones]

pathetic to reverty only after one attempt... maybe it is not that bad after all...

and maybe only Q3 needed to revert back...

I think in Q1 they was fun action and a bit in Q2. no discussion about Q3 though... : /

It is like 2014 rules... they are ---, engine rules bad.. waaa waaa Red Bull and now in season 3three it well could be a four way fight with RIC in the mix after Canada GP...
Grid so tight many battles.... very exciting season coming.
but no...
let's have some knee jerk new rules for 2017 that solve no problmes... but allow for larger gaps due development $ by big teams and maybe RB domination again ( more fancy aero again).
arrrgh!

[Tauri_J]

Q1 and Q2 were afwul too. Drivers cant even finish their laps or dont have time to even go out of the pits.

It would be even worse with longer circuits.

[FrukostScones]

Q1 and Q2 were afwul too. Drivers cant even finish their laps or dont have time to even go out of the pits.

It would be even worse with longer circuits.

maybe they would have learned to time them better...

[ChrisM40]

Q1 and Q2 were afwul too. Drivers cant even finish their laps or dont have time to even go out of the pits.

It would be even worse with longer circuits.

maybe they would have learned to time them better...

There is no way to time them better. They physically cannot refuel and re-tyre the car in the time available. What this system means is that the fastest cars, in Q1 certainly, can just put in a lap and go back to the pit, job done. The slower or marginal cars need a second crack, but cant have one.

F1 is somewhat unique in that its made a spectacle of qualifying, few other series make a televised fuss of it. The problem is there was no problem to fix, why did it need changing? Was there really a problem with ticket sales, if so, maybe they should reconsider the fact that a day at a GP costs as much as a week in a holiday resort.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Indeed, £300 for a race day ticket to Silverstone. I don't care how good the racing is, there's no way I'm paying that for a single day out.

[toraabe]

Trashcan... .. Not worth the paper is written on ,....

[Dazed1]

I don't think there has ever been a format where a qualifying "hot lap" would be terminated by time regulations. That certainly hurt a lot of second tier teams. How hard would it be to rewrite the format to allow those laps to count? If you are on the bubble and doing a hot lap when your 90 expires that lap would count if you improved enough. The scoring would be a little trickier but it is all computers anyway.

[timekiller001]

I don't think there has ever been a format where a qualifying "hot lap" would be terminated by time regulations. That certainly hurt a lot of second tier teams. How hard would it be to rewrite the format to allow those laps to count? If you are on the bubble and doing a hot lap when your 90 expires that lap would count if you improved enough. The scoring would be a little trickier but it is all computers anyway.

If you have the 90sec countdown and they are allowed to finish their laps - that would get VERY messy. On some tracks you would have to wait another 100secs to wait for everyone to finish their laps. And by that time, the next driver would be eliminated and the whole process of waiting starts again. No way too keep a cool head when that happens.

I personally don't think a mixture of last years qualifying split in segments along with the elimination after 90secs work. My guess is that the elimination might work, if the qualifying were like in the 90s. 1h for everyone, and every 3 minutes or such a driver gets eliminated. But that's just my personal guess, in reality that might be the same rubbish stuff. Just revert to the format of the last years and we'll be fine.
(And for the next time, if they are going to change anything, they shouldn't rush it as they did now. That stuff needs development and time!)

[Moose]

I don't understand why people are saying Q1 and 2 were good. Could they not manage to do the maths in their head and observe that none of the cars could actually have their time count or something?

[djos]

maybe they would have learned to time them better...

There is no way to time them better. They physically cannot refuel and re-tyre the car in the time available. What this system means is that the fastest cars, in Q1 certainly, can just put in a lap and go back to the pit, job done. The slower or marginal cars need a second crack, but cant have one.

As it was pointed out on the Aussie tv broadcast by James Allen, in spa if they tried this stupid system you'd need 5 minutes to get out of your pit, complete your out lap and finish your fast lap. With a 90 second cut off and no ability to finish your lap, most drivers would get 1 or 2 fast lap runs at the most.

[strad]

so much for that.

[Henk]

I don't understand why people are saying Q1 and 2 were good. Could they not manage to do the maths in their head and observe that none of the cars could actually have their time count or something?

The main problem in Q1 was incompetence by the teams. A couple of teams went out 10 seconds too late. In Q2 there was a couple of minutes in the middle that were really exiting. I thought it showed potential and would like to see a better version going forward.

The new rules sort of changed the system from having 3 qualifying sessions to 6 and from having 2 laps to set a time to 1 in each. I think that would potentially bring some more surprises without being unfair to the best cars and drivers. The difference is that they will have to deliver every hot lap. It's still about skill but mistakes are punished more harshly.

I also like that the cars aren't all doing the hot lap at the same time. The camera's can follow 2 or maybe 3 cars at the same time but 8 or 10 is impossible. Brundle was complaining about looking at the clock more than at the cars, but Q3 used to be looking at the times and the main straight where the cars crossed the line.

[strad]

it's gone... that's all that matters

[Moose]

I don't understand why people are saying Q1 and 2 were good. Could they not manage to do the maths in their head and observe that none of the cars could actually have their time count or something?

The main problem in Q1 was incompetence by the teams. A couple of teams went out 10 seconds too late.

Not true - they simply *couldn't* get out fast enough. They need 9 minutes to do one lap, come back in, refuel, and go out again, and get round. They only had 7 minutes.

In Q2 there was a couple of minutes in the middle that were really exiting. I thought it showed potential and would like to see a better version going forward.

A couple of minutes in the middle (meaning, two cars doing a lap) is not anywhere near as exciting as what it used to be - the times continuously tumbling.