New qualifying format...

[basti313]

To give a little bit of another perspective: I do not think the Q format is the problem. I even think that in the time of the tire war, or during the Bridgestone time this Q format would have been great.
During the last Bridgestone year this Q format would have meant, that everybody goes out and drives the --- out of the car for several laps in each Q session, just because of 10 drivers being within one second and no need to save tires or engines.

At the moment the problem is not the Q format. The first problem is tire saving and the second problem is the gap between the teams. I do not think that McLaren, being too far away from P10 and save from P14, or Ferrari, being too far away from P2 and far in front of P5, would have made a second attempt last year.

[ChrisM40]

Well that was a disaster. It accomplished nothing except to make F1 more boring than its ever been. The last thing F1 needed was to be made more broken than it already is, but yeah they did it.

It was probably the worst qualy I remember. I prefer the total washouts to this because at least there is a good reason for those.

[Steven]

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lauda ... ds-680654/

That puts a little perspective into the thing.

It's always the same thing basically. Bernie suggests something outrageous, then a silly compromise is made.

Last Wednesday, I heard that Charlie Whiting wasn't impressed with the new qualifying system, saying some big opporunities had been missed.

That same day, Williams' Pat Symonds on the other hand explained that the idea of the new qualifying system is not to improve qualifying, "because there is nothing wrong with qualifying". He said "We need to focus on the main act, which obviously is the race."
So, as he continued, he backed the idea of a reverse grid, going as far as saying that it would change the design approach of F1 teams.

[Fulcrum]

Moving along to something else...

9th position on the grid is extremely valuable this year. Some fairly competitive cars usually qualify in that position. Should be the position to watch for alternative strategies.

[henry]

Just for the record:

2015: 20 cars did 273 laps in qualy

2016: 22 cars did 222 laps

[ChrisM40]

Just for the record:

2015: 20 cars did 273 laps in qualy

2016: 22 cars did 222 laps

Damning enough in itself given that Aus 2015 was the worst qualy I remember until today..

[Tim.Wright]

Who would have thought.... that eliminating cars earlier would result in LESS on track action?

[michl420]

I have given this system a real chance, but to be honest it is the most complicated way to make it the most boring. The older system was better. Even let all cars drive one hour would be much better. When you have a slow car there is practically just one lap each section. And there is nothing to fix with this system!

[Ozan]

I think there should be a special Q3 tyre(like bridgestone supersoft that goes many laps without breaking down) for cars to be pushed to max and let them race however fast they can push.

[FoxHound]

The adding time to the previous race winner, 2nd, 3rd down to the last point paying position is workable.

It could go along the lines of 1 second added to the winner, 0.9 for second, 0.8 for 3rd going down to 0.1 for tenth.
This overcomes predictable grids somewhat, and has cars on the track scrabbling for the absolute best time.
Keep Q1, Q2 and Q3 and then finalise the grid by adding the times once everything is complete.

It can even be tried out for the next race, and doesn't require anything drastic on the FIA, FOM or the teams part.
After this debacle, why the hell not?

[bhall II]

After this debacle, why the hell not?

On the off chance the sport has any dignity left, there's not much, and a "time ballast" would eat 50kg of curry and then poop all over it.

[FoxHound]

After this debacle, why the hell not?

On the off chance the sport has any dignity left, there's not much, and a "time ballast" would eat 50kg of curry and then poop all over it.

Ahhh but think of the masses Ben, the masses want entertainment.

Dignity in sport these days is a commodity unvalued. Sadly.

[TAG]

F1asco.

[OneAlex]

I was considering paying for the Sky F1 weekend package for this race... thank God I didn't waste money on that. Watching the Channel 4 "highlights", I don't think I've ever seen a qualifying with such little on-track action, just shot after shot of cars in pits with repeated "well, this has gone a bit quiet" commentary, and a Q3 that ended with almost 5 minutes on the clock.

I... think I hate F1 now...

I know they want to change it for Bahrain but after today I have little hope they'll come up with anything much better.

[henry]

The adding time to the previous race winner, 2nd, 3rd down to the last point paying position is workable.

It could go along the lines of 1 second added to the winner, 0.9 for second, 0.8 for 3rd going down to 0.1 for tenth.
This overcomes predictable grids somewhat, and has cars on the track scrabbling for the absolute best time.
Keep Q1, Q2 and Q3 and then finalise the grid by adding the times once everything is complete.

It can even be tried out for the next race, and doesn't require anything drastic on the FIA, FOM or the teams part.
After this debacle, why the hell not?

Here's your grid if you take top 10 last year championship and apply your rule. Your task is to spot the difference.

LEWIS HAMILTON
NICO ROSBERG
SEBASTIAN VETTEL
CARLOS SAINZ
KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN
DANIEL RICCIARDO
SERGIO PEREZ
FELIPE MASSA
NICO HULKENBERG
MAX VERSTAPPEN
FERNANDO ALONSO
JENSON BUTTON
VALTTERI BOTTAS
MARCUS ERICSSON
JOLYON PALMER
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN
FELIPE NASR
DANIIL KVYAT
ROMAIN GROSJEAN
ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ
RIO HARYANTO
PASCAL WEHRLEIN