Qualifying

[manchild]

Am I the only person who thinks this looks quite exciting?

No, me too..........looks like a winner

OK, just don’t come to me in the middle of the season looking for a shoulder to cry on.

[RH1300S]

OK, just don’t come to me in the middle of the season looking for a shoulder to cry on.

Fair enough..............

If I do, I will own up to the error of my judgement.

[f1.redbaron]

sorry to say this but they go out the order they finished in the championship last time i checked

Check again!
This was the running order for the qualifying session in Australia 2005:

1. Albers
2. Freisacher
3. Karthikeyan
4. Montriero (all new drivers)
5. Button (I guarantee you this guy didn't finish 5th last in '04, and yet, he was the first one to leave the race - remember the smoke from his engine at the start of the GP)
6. Heidfeld
7. Webber
8. Klien (remember when him and Webber took each other out?)
9. Trulli
10. Coulthard
11. Villeneuve
12. Fisichella
13. Massa
14. M. Schumacher (didn't this guy finish 1st in '04?)
15. Sato
16. R. Schumacher
17. Alonso
18. Barrichello
19. Raikkonen
20. Montoya

This is how they finished the previous season:

1 Michael Schumacher German Ferrari 148
2 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 114
3 Jenson Button British BAR-Honda 85
4 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 59
5 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian Williams-BMW 58
6 Jarno Trulli Italian Renault 46
7 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 45
8 Takuma Sato Japanese BAR-Honda 34
9 Ralf Schumacher German Williams-BMW 24
10 David Coulthard British McLaren-Mercedes 24
11 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Sauber-Petronas 22
12 Felipe Massa Brazilian Sauber-Petronas 12
13 Mark Webber Australian Jaguar-Cosworth 7
14 Olivier Panis French Toyota 6
15 Antonio Pizzonia Brazilian Williams-BMW 6
16 Christian Klien Austrian Jaguar-Cosworth 3
17 Cristiano da Matta Brazilian Toyota 3
18 Nick Heidfeld German Jordan-Ford 3
19 Timo Glock German Jordan-Ford 2
20 Zsolt Baumgartner Hungarian Minardi-Cosworth 1

(Source F1.com)

And this is how they finished the last race of the season:

1 3 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 71 1:28:01.451 2 10

2 6 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +1.0 secs 3 8

3 2 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 71 +24.0 secs 1 6

4 8 Fernando Alonso Renault 71 +48.9 secs 8 5

5 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 71 +49.7 secs 7 4

6 10 Takuma Sato BAR-Honda 71 +50.2 secs 6 3

7 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 71 +50.6 secs 18 2

8 12 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas 71 +62.3 secs 4 1

9 11 Giancarlo Fisichella Sauber-Petronas 71 +63.8 secs 10

10 7 Jacques Villeneuve Renault 70 +1 Lap 13

11 5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 70 +1 Lap 12

12 16 Jarno Trulli Toyota 70 +1 Lap 9

13 17 Ricardo Zonta Toyota 70 +1 Lap 14

14 15 Christian Klien Jaguar-Cosworth 69 +2 Laps 15

15 19 Timo Glock Jordan-Ford 69 +2 Laps 17

16 21 Zsolt Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth 67 +4 Laps 19

17 20 Gianmaria Bruni Minardi-Cosworth 67 +4 Laps 20

Ret 14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 23 Accident 11

Ret 18 Nick Heidfeld Jordan-Ford 15 Clutch 16

Ret 9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 3 Engine 5



You decide!

[DaveKillens]

I believe that with this new qualifying system, previous race finishes have no impact. Personally, I'm glad to see that go. It's bad enough when a driver/team suffers a poor result. But to have them suffer again in the next race, to me, is unfair. Each race is a new event, they should be allowed a fresh start. Notwithstanding, unless they are under punishement for an infraction.
I do wonder if we will see any attempts at on-track sabotage. For instance, let's assume a car which usually runs up front has been unable to post a decent qualifying time before knockout. Would we see a competitor send a car out, hopefully in an attempt to thwart a decent run? Wait and see, this may be interesting.

[f1.redbaron]

I do wonder if we will see any attempts at on-track sabotage. For instance, let's assume a car which usually runs up front has been unable to post a decent qualifying time before knockout. Would we see a competitor send a car out, hopefully in an attempt to thwart a decent run? Wait and see, this may be interesting.

Well, we've already seen something similar take place this year, when, allegedly, Kimi went off-track for the sole purpose of sabotaging Alonso's (?) lap. Right, Flavio?

On another note, 2-3 days ago I read how Jarno was not too happy with the new qualifying format. I'm curious whether he will be the biggest loser as a result of those changes in qualifying (i.e. no more one-lap wonders). Hopefully not, because I like him and he is driving for "my" team...

[Scuderia_Russ]

I do wonder if we will see any attempts at on-track sabotage. For instance, let's assume a car which usually runs up front has been unable to post a decent qualifying time before knockout. Would we see a competitor send a car out, hopefully in an attempt to thwart a decent run? Wait and see, this may be interesting.

Well, we've already seen something similar take place this year, when, allegedly, Kimi went off-track for the sole purpose of sabotaging Alonso's (?) lap. Right, Flavio?

Nothing alleged about it, Ron even congratulated him for it!

[MRE]

For me...qualifying is just the beginning of the "battle" for Formula One racing. Let's stick to the one shot qualifying. The format of qualifying has been revised several times without any significant reason. What is the main reason for this modifications? Some reasons that I heard that they want to see the pole sitter on their front page Sunday's morning paper. Is it important? We have more dramatic seasons through the one shot qualifying seasons. People are getting bore according this confusion and the new regulations just make this sports "dead".

[Tom]

How about the old drawing names out of a hat?