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[darwin dali]

JT and RB in recent days pretty much proclaimed the death of quali due to the importance of saving tires for the race. It's now possible to make up many spots because of different tire strategy and grid position at the start of the race is less crucial.
Obvious exception to this would be Monaco - or would it?
We'll find out very soon.

Anyway, what do you think? As the season progresses and the teams smarten up in their tire strategies (e.g., only using the prime tires in quali and saving the options entirely for the race) will quali turn into a snore fest?
Is it maybe time to make some adjustments to the new situation (mostly the tires)? And if so, how could the spectacle be increased again?

[acosmichippo]

i thought for sure after Hamilton won in China, all teams would only do one hot lap per Q session, but that hasn't been the case. Even McLaren used all their tires in Turkey Q. But in Spain it seems more teams jumped on the bandwagon.

Just for grins, I'd like to see some teams take it to the next level, and not even do any laps - especially if they feel they won't be competitive in a particular Q stage. For example, if a team expects to qualify P7-10 in Q3, P15-17 in Q2, or P22-24 in Q1, why even bother tearing up the tires?

[Big Azza]

This debate has been going on in the media for some time and I think it's a silly thought. Qualifying is not dead. Everyone keeps complaining about how Vettel is dominating qualifying. And most times, he'll win the race from pole position! I haven't seen someone whose qualified last come first yet. Did Schumacher win because of not setting a time in Q3 in Spain? Nope. If he qualified higher, he surely would've been in a better position in the race.

However, to add further insult to injury, give the pole sitter 5 points for each race, and then see how far ahead Vettel would be in the standings!

[Four mules as one]

I think it depends on the track, which is what RB and JT are saying. If you look at Barcelona, whoever was in front out of Seb and Hammo would probably have won. You would have to say Seb had the upper hand cause he qualified in front of him and the track didn't allow overtaking as such. So I think quali is still alive for the front front runners. As the mid pack up well, I would try and save my tyres completely and then you easily have a chance of points and possible a podium if luck goes your way with retirements or safety cars. Possibly a win but that would be rare. But, I agree, it depends on the condition of the track.

[Big Azza]

But haven't you noticed that those who make it to Q2 appear to go backwards in the race? It is only the fast cars that get stranded in Q3 or don't qualify that can make the big climb up several places. And to make such a come back really comes down to a good strategy. The extra soft tire has to bring enough of an advantage to compensate for the lost time in pits doing an extra pit stop. Those who fail to take part in qualifying are taking a massive risk.

Think, if all the cars don't run in qualifying except the back-markers, we could start seeing a reverse grid happening! Karthikayan on pole!

[Hammer278]

This debate has been going on in the media for some time and I think it's a silly thought. Qualifying is not dead. Everyone keeps complaining about how Vettel is dominating qualifying. And most times, he'll win the race from pole position! I haven't seen someone whose qualified last come first yet. Did Schumacher win because of not setting a time in Q3 in Spain? Nope. If he qualified higher, he surely would've been in a better position in the race.

However, to add further insult to injury, give the pole sitter 5 points for each race, and then see how far ahead Vettel would be in the standings!

I have to agree. If the first 4-5 guys are consistently losing to the guys who are lower down the field....this argument is justified.

Right now its like people are trying to find nooks and crannies in the new rules and proceed to drill holes into them making them look big. Geez, just be happy and enjoy the show!!

[Jabberwocky]

I liked schumachers double bluff last weekend in qualifying

[acosmichippo]

I don't think anyone's saying that qualifying position is irrelevant. Its relevancy is certainly diminished due to all the overtaking aids, but not irrelevant. I think the "death of qualifying" has more to do with the fact that teams benefit by doing as few hot laps as possible. This ultimately leads to a less exciting qualifying for us fans. Instead of seeing a driver setting a decent time and driving his balls off to improve it (if only for a tenth or hundredth of a second) now they just have the "meh, it's good enough. let's save the tires" mentality.

On the other hand, what this does is shift the importance back onto Sunday - where it should be. So while i do agree that we are, in a sense, witnessing the "death of qualifying" I don't think it's altogether a bad thing.

[vlad]

This will not be the case in Monaco!

[What's Burning?]

I don't think anyone's saying that qualifying position is irrelevant. Its relevancy is certainly diminished due to all the overtaking aids, but not irrelevant. I think the "death of qualifying" has more to do with the fact that teams benefit by doing as few hot laps as possible. This ultimately leads to a less exciting qualifying for us fans. Instead of seeing a driver setting a decent time and driving his balls off to improve it (if only for a tenth or hundredth of a second) now they just have the "meh, it's good enough. let's save the tires" mentality.

On the other hand, what this does is shift the importance back onto Sunday - where it should be. So while i do agree that we are, in a sense, witnessing the "death of qualifying" I don't think it's altogether a bad thing.

Bingo, that's the definition of qualifying is dead... the fact that the last ten minutes in Q3 had you on the edge of your seat and not we've got one installation lap one flying lap and 7 minutes of thumb twiddling.

Pole position is and will always be important, but now at least if you're a upper mid field team or a top team, failing to get to Q3 for some technical reason doesn't mean you'll have fight like crazy to get into the points, because with the fresh set of options, you're easily able to claw back 12 positions and the rest is up to the driver and the car.

[hesketh308]

I won't say that Quali is dead, but i don't find it particularly entertaining anymore,

I'll watch Monaco quali.....because it's Monaco, but if a race weekend coincides with say, a MotoGP or World Superbike meeting, I think I shall be more inclined to watch the Motorbike qualifying instead, especially when the F1 is at a Tilke track.

That is of course if the Red Bull still have such a large quali advantage, if Ferrari and Mclaren really catch up, it may result in a more entertaining quali for me

But that's just my opinion, not really moaning about it, and if other people still enjoy the quali, then good for them

[myownalias]

Qualifying is certainly not dead but it isn't as important as it used to be as with the tyres going off so quickly and needing to stop three to five times in a race conserving tyres is much more important so we don't see the same intensity of qualifying, it's better to settle for fourth than burn up an extra set of tyres trying to better your time. So from a fan spectacle point of view, qualifying is very dull this season. At this point, we might as well skip qualifying and the drivers start from the position they finished in the last race, let's add additional ballast for the fastest cars.

[darwin dali]

Qualifying is certainly not dead but it isn't as important as it used to be as with the tyres going off so quickly and needing to stop three to five times in a race conserving tyres is much more important so we don't see the same intensity of qualifying, it's better to settle for fourth than burn up an extra set of tyres trying to better your time. So from a fan spectacle point of view, qualifying is very dull this season. At this point, we might as well skip qualifying and the drivers start from the position they finished in the last race, let's add additional ballast for the fastest cars.

Aren't these a contradiction?

[vaptin]

Qualifying is certainly not dead but it isn't as important as it used to be as with the tyres going off so quickly and needing to stop three to five times in a race conserving tyres is much more important so we don't see the same intensity of qualifying, it's better to settle for fourth than burn up an extra set of tyres trying to better your time. So from a fan spectacle point of view, qualifying is very dull this season. At this point, we might as well skip qualifying and the drivers start from the position they finished in the last race, let's add additional ballast for the fastest cars.

Aren't these a contradiction?

Nah, because the position they finished in the last race would also have been influenced by their qualifying position in the last race.

[darwin dali]

Qualifying is certainly not dead but it isn't as important as it used to be as with the tyres going off so quickly and needing to stop three to five times in a race conserving tyres is much more important so we don't see the same intensity of qualifying, it's better to settle for fourth than burn up an extra set of tyres trying to better your time. So from a fan spectacle point of view, qualifying is very dull this season. At this point, we might as well skip qualifying and the drivers start from the position they finished in the last race, let's add additional ballast for the fastest cars.

Aren't these a contradiction?

Nah, because the position they finished in the last race would also have been influenced by their qualifying position in the last race.

You're not answering my question though. On the one hand, he professes that quali is certainly not dead, on the other he follows it up with 'we might as well skip quali' because it's very dull for fans.