Comments on: The Ben Evans column: qualified failure

By: Robert McKay

Robert McKay — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:26:28 +0000

Isn’t tweaking qualifying just fiddling while Rome burns? Until the aero is properly fixed then it doesn’t matter where everyone starts, there’ll still be no passing. Ok, we don’t want it like NASCAR where being in front is positively a disadvantage, but cars need to be able to run closely without being seriously hampered by the airflow.

Back to quali:

The fuel load thing is rubbish, as we all know, more or less. It kind of made some semblance of sense when it was brought in (with the the hateful single-lap quali). There was a choice to be made, either running very light for track position or running very heavy and cashing in on race day. But things like the "field spread" (Brundle is always going on about it) and the aforementioned aero passing problems render it a bit pointless as all the teams more or less gravitate to the same time for stopping, plus/minus 1-2 laps at most. I really don’t get the "write the fuel load in an envelope before Q3 starts" school of thought. It just seems unneccessary (though god knows F1 loves unneccessary). You might as well run it on empty tanks. Being 11th and being allowed to pick your fuel on the day was only a (small) advantage for a few races anyway. I don’t know what the official FIA line is on WHY they actually have to qualify on race fuel, because the reasons they might have started doing it no longer apply these days.

The old 1 hour, 12 lap format was good, but too few laps for too much time. An in-out-hot run takes around 6 minutes, roughly, times 4 is 24 minutes, for a 62 minute session (given the final run was generally being made after the flag was out) - no wonder there was so much dead time. If you want that format back, give them more laps and then there’s less sitting around waiting. In 1996 they could do as many laps as they wanted.

Me personally, I’d adopt a similar style of Moto GP’s quali. An hour, unlimited laps, but with a few sets of qualifying tyres for the end. I like that because being superquick on a quali tyre does not mean you have a great race setup and there’s no certainty by any means that pole sitter=race winner. By all means make quali about being the fastest driver/car package over one pure hot lap, but do it in a way that’s a bit different to race day, to give more variety and possibilities for things to change.

By: teamorders

teamorders — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:50:18 +0000

I think we keep Q1,2,3. For those that get knocked out in 1 & 2 they get a random grid position within that bracket, ie qualifiers knocked out in Q1 are givien a random position from 17-22. For Q3, the fastest and 2nd faster qualifier are on the front row, but the rest of the Q3 qualifiers get a random grid position 3-10.

By: chunter

chunter — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:04:29 +0000

I dared suggest elsewhere that maybe qualifying should be disposed of completely and we should order the cars by blind draw.

I think the realism of the matter is to consider that there is no way for a qualification system to fairly order the cars from fastest to slowest: that is what the race is for. As we see from week to week, the race doesn’t do that good a job of ordering the cars, either.

By: Obster

Obster — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:48:29 +0000

The traditional longer, open-type qualifying sessions of the past were fine when you were actually at the track watching and were walking from corner to corner for different vantage points.
But making a qualifying system that will work for the short attention span of TV couch potatoes, myself included, is a different matter. I think they are getting there, and they should keep working on it.
Schuey qualifying at Spa-I tried never to miss it. The in car view was the best!

By: dp

dp — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:36:22 +0000

as many said, take away the fuel restrictions and this format is way better and more entertaining than anything done before.

qualis on fumes!

i would possibly add an additional tweak: the top three have an additional chance to improve on their q3 time in a q4 single-lap shoot-out in direct order (1 to 3).
so we really get the first three to push and enjoy their laps fully

By: MacademiaNut

MacademiaNut — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:47:19 +0000

I like the present qualifying format, except for the race fuel load in Q3. Here’s my suggestion.1. Let the teams declare their race fuel before Q3.2. Q3 has 10 minutes time for every person to set their fastest time.3. The best part: No refueling during Q3. You need not start with the race fuel. 4. In lap: You must get into the pits within your best time + 10%; and your car may not stop (due to lack of fuel) during the in-lap. If so, you are relegated the last spot.On the race day, you start with the race fuel you declared before Q3.

By: Fer no.65

Fer no.65 — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:16:42 +0000

i personally hate this knock-out system… But the 12 laps qualy wasn’t any better actually. The final part of the session was interesting, just that.

I loved the 1 lap qualy from 2003-2005. As you could watch the entire lap of each driver. Sometimes even onboard, and you would ALWAYS watch the pole lap. Okey, it had it’s problems, but it was the best format for me.

By: milos

milos — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:10:23 +0000

Yes I know, I can’t handle the corners since the TC ban

I do not know what’s wrong, I have this problem since the new design here … I used "enter" to forcibly break the lines, I tried to see what happens if I don’t … Well, I went off the track

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:58:13 +0000

Chalky said all there is to say.Now dont take this too seriously, but if drivers dont want to drive hard for position, let the test drivers qualify or use a substitute, like me! I will do it for free regardless of the risk!

By: Santiago

Santiago — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:50:09 +0000

I´d like for qualy, just to put the fuel for the race on Saturday and then have an hour to set your time. So the race starts on Saturday and finishes on Sunday. If you get traffic it is your problem, and if you need more laps to get better on the grid pay for it during the race.