Official: Real qualifying returns in 2010
Low-fuel qualifying, last seen in 2002, returns next year
With the refuelling ban made official F1 fans can look forward to the return of proper, low-fuel qualifying in 2010. The following passage deleted from the 2009 regulations for 2010 confirms the decision:
Fuel may not be added to nor removed from any car eligible to take part in Q3 between the start of Q3 and the start of the race
This means all cars will now qualify for races in low-fuel trim, which should make for more spectacular, unpredictable and meaningful qualifying sessions.
Low fuel qualifying was last seen in F1 in 2002. It was banned because it was felt that making drivers qualify with their race fuel loads could help mix up the grid.
This was faulty reasoning to start with: in 2002, Juan Pablo Montoya qualified on pole position seven times yet never won a race. The presumption that drivers were always winning races from pole was false.
In fact, introducing ‘race fuel’ qualifying made it easier for the most competitive teams to start from the front of the grid on light fuel and dominate the race from there – as Michael Schumacher did almost every weekend in 2004.
Meanwhile the switch away from ‘low fuel’ qualifying disconnected F1 from its history. Comparing today’s drivers with great qualifying specialists like Ayrton Senna and Jim Clark has been rendered impossible.
Happily, that is all set to change. Proper qualifying is back next year, and long may it remain. In the meantime, chalk it up on the list of Max Mosley’s U-turns…
pSynrg said on 30th April 2009, 23:45
I think I’ll miss refuelling. The F1 teams had got it down to such a fine art, where else are the top refuellers going to find work?
Other than that, lets see – the way F1 works the law of extremely tight averages will once again have us with pretty much the same situation, just played out in a different way.
It will all now come down to tyres… So why change?
Ace said on 1st May 2009, 1:40
Glad I’m not the only one who isn’t pleased about this.
I don’t see how this would make qualifying more spectacular and unpredictable. Quite the opposite I would’ve thought.
I enjoyed the strategy factor with differing fuel weights in the race too.
Drivers are still required to use one of each tyre type during the race, yes?
todd said on 1st May 2009, 3:04
yeah i really think fuel loads is an integral part of the race.
look at brazil 08, vettel pitted heaps of times, ran a super light load and caused an upset by pipping hamilton with a lighter car on better tires, if he had to run a full tank of fuel all race he would never have been able to get that close just on tires alone.
i’ve seen closer better racing, and more races won from fuel strategies than tires.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:39
I cannot see the attraction in refuelling at all. It’s not racing.
At the moment the first two parts of qualifying are great – you’re seeing a real contest. Then when you get to Q3 all the excitement and tension vanishes because even if someone does a really quick lap you just think ‘oh, they’re probably just light on fuel’.
Yes.
Yawn. I want to see racing, not some tedious exercise in fuel consumption management and timing pit stops to avoid having to race other cars.
pSynrg said on 1st May 2009, 22:45
I see where you are coming from Keith but F1 does have racing along with pit stops and refuelling.
All the elements are part of the race from the design of the car to the strategic use of fuel and tyres. Then a driver that can drive precisely to a strategy to increase the chances of success.
It’s really all going to come down to just tyres, rather than tyres and fuel. As is said above, we won’t get many if any, balls out light fuel three stoppers. Segmenting the race into sprints amongst a grid of not-quite-sprints – surely that makes for better racing?
I am however all for running quali with quali fuel loads for the fastest possible lap.
Billy7766 said on 1st May 2009, 0:07
*hands clasped together praying* “…..and then make qualifying exciting again, and get rid of all the talk about single engines for all teams, oh and ban Eddie Jordan from the BBC…..”
Oliver said on 1st May 2009, 2:08
I think there was refueling in 1994 Clay, remember Vestappen?
Gman said on 1st May 2009, 2:15
I like this move very much- it puts the emphasis back on driver skill, and not on who has the most fuel onboard. I look at Heikki at McLaren and how many times he was fueled heavier than Lewis last year- he would have done much better under this system.
YeaMon said on 1st May 2009, 2:19
Great, one less thing to watch on Saturday. I enjoyed the knockout quali.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:40
I don’t understand your post – knockout qualifying is staying.
SoLiD said on 1st May 2009, 2:47
excellent news!
Steve K said on 1st May 2009, 3:10
So the fastest cars will start up front for sure. Combine that with no refueling and we get to see less overtaking and basically none after the initial start since car weights will be the same. It will basically be a drag race at the start and the only thing that would create a change is a wreck or a mechanical failure.
So what about this is so appealing to you all?
manatcna said on 1st May 2009, 3:39
Agreed
Dane said on 1st May 2009, 3:44
I agree. It sounds like its going to be a procession ‘race’
Macca said on 1st May 2009, 4:37
I agree. Thats what I’ve been saying all along.
Michel S. said on 1st May 2009, 5:14
The fastest car on low-fuel is not necessarily the fastest car with a full tank. So you’ll still see some fast cars out of position, and even better, the pit stop strategies will be much less predictable, as drivers no longer get “free” tyre change to go with their fuel.
ILoveVettel said on 1st May 2009, 6:29
I completely agree with you Steve K. Now we shall have to wait for either safety car period or rain to see some proper racing. And if a team produces a car superior to others, they will be untouchable. In other wards, the season would be finished in Winter Testing.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:41
Exactly.
pSynrg said on 1st May 2009, 22:49
Extrapolating your angle Keith, all the cars would be the same, running the same tyres and fuel loads to find the best driver. But that’s not F1.
Arnet said on 1st May 2009, 3:16
Am I missing something, or doesn’t
“Fuel may not be added to nor removed from any car eligible to take part in Q3 between the start of Q3 and the start of the race”
mean that all cars will run Q3 with a full tank?
Owen G said on 1st May 2009, 3:48
No. As cars can now add or remove fuel betweeen Q3 and the race, they will obviously add fuel after qualifying.
So cars in quali will be fuelled as light as possible…the fastest cars will be at the top. Saturday just got a hell of a lot more exciting!
dwp said on 1st May 2009, 4:06
@Arnet
No, that sentence was removed from the 2009 regs in making the 2010 regs.
They can qualify with fumes in the tank and then fill up for the race.
manatcna said on 1st May 2009, 3:38
Yes, and take twice as long to do a lap – sorry Keith, but I think it’s a step in the wrong direction.
Saturdays are now free for shopping with the wife!
sob
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:42
Sorry, why are they going to take twice as long to do a lap?
Owen G said on 1st May 2009, 3:44
I’d be interested to know how many of the pro-refuelling camp have only been watching F1 since 1993.
Personally, I first watched in 86 so that’s 7 years without refuelling and 16 with it.
I’m glad to see it go. Now, the fastest car will be on pole. That’s a plus. Also, light-fuelled cars qualifying high and holding people up till they pit won’t happen as often.
As for pit stop strategies disappearing – not the case. There have been plenty of races in the past where one driver has stayed out, another has pitted for fresh tyres and then has hunted down the leader. Eg Mansell and Senna at Monaco.
I find this a much more interesting strategic situation than fuel load differences.
manatcna said on 1st May 2009, 4:04
I can beat you by six years – and the “fastest” cars won’t be very fast at all.
And yes, I’m pro-refuelling.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:43
I think you’re onto something here. These whippersnappers!
pSynrg said on 1st May 2009, 22:57
Lol, if only – I started watching F1 in 1976, age 7 have watched it ever since. Maybe missed a handful.
I’m a refueller. Not every season in the non-refuelling past was a no holds barred battle for the WDC. Ever since tyres, brakes and aerodynamics reduced overtaking zones to what they are, F1 evolved a different kind of race.
As for the increase in minimum weight. Is that not a reduction in efficiency?
Mikeman said on 1st May 2009, 4:47
Get the qualifying flying laps back is the ONLY thing I can see with good eyes in all this – but with a cost – no more in race refueling – less emotion… why not do the qualifying on low fuel and have each team decide what to put in for the race start ? Is it too strange? Didn’t any of those master minds thought about that?… Bah!
Nayanesh said on 1st May 2009, 5:27
Thats good news.I hope pitstops are not banned completely.They add some spice to the races.
scunnyman said on 1st May 2009, 6:47
Firstly i’d like to know where CARLOS gets ths idea where teams were not allowed to refuel and change tyres during a race in the old days.
When was this??????????????
And secondly do the pro refuellers not know what the racing was like before 1994 when refuelling was introduced.
Not every pole sitter won the race and many people won from further back on the grid than the 1st 2 places.
Not every race was a procession, in fact i think there have been more processional races since 94′.
I just wish the FIA would get rid of all these mickey mouse rules for f1
refuelling
too much aero on cars
different tyre compounds
engine restrictions
etc…etc….
Let’s get back to proper racing like we used to get 15+ years ago.
Like Jonathon Leggard said during the Bahrain race ” they’ll have to go Motor Racing” meaning the drivers will actually have to race each other, rather than relying on fuel stops and such.
I think if you ask most fans who watched f1 bfore 94′ will be looking forward to the ban on refuelling.
kurtosis said on 1st May 2009, 6:54
There is now a reduction in the strategy component of F1 racing for two reasons.
1. Qualifying light vs. heavy to make up places is no longer an option.
2. With the refueling ban, all pit stops will take exactly the same time for all the teams (assuming they’ll nail the process down), no more 11 seconds vs. 7 seconds for different amounts of fuel going in.
While it is true that a light car in qualifying can behave differently from a heavy car in race trim, I would imagine qualifying will offer roughly the right order in terms of car+driver capability. At least most of the time on most tracks.
This reduces uncertainty in the sport, and that is always a bad, bad thing. There will be an heavier reliance on rain or accidents to make things exciting. Otherwise, expect a processional display in several tracks, not just the boring “tilke tracks” we’re complaining about now. We’ll also need to rely on plenty of off-track “excitement” like the Singapore night race, and fans gushing about how “gorgeous” the cars look.
Uncertainty is the life blood of sport. They just reduced it in F1.
Smitty said on 1st May 2009, 11:28
Uncertainty was thrown out of the window once and for all when the weights of the cars started being published before the race.
I’m glad to see refuelling go.
Instead of using clever strategies (which are clever – Schumi Hungary ’98 is probably the only good reason for refuelling I can think of) to win over the race, the drivers will just have to race each other on the track to win.
Oliver said on 1st May 2009, 8:17
Lewis’ Turkey race would not be possible. He would probably have finished dead last.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 1st May 2009, 8:50
How ironic – when I read this I thought you meant his ’06 GP2 race in Turkey. The one where he dropped to 16th at the start and finished second.
How did he make up those places? By overtaking. Not with some tedious strategic dodge or getting lucky with a safety car – by passing people on the track.
And the same goes for Ayrton Senna at Suzuka in 1988, Nigel Mansell at the Hungaroring in 1989, Alain Prost at Mexico in 1990…