FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[McLaren Fan]

From grandprix.com:

It has been confirmed after weeks of rumours that qualifying will be altered in 2008 in order to make it more entertaining and to get rid of the troublesome "fuel burn" period, which was seen by all concerned as a serious "own goal" in the process of giving Formula 1 a more environmentally-friendly image. The Q3 session which was previously 20 minutes in length will now be reduced to just 10 minutes which will give the teams time to do two or perhaps three qualifying runs for those who wish to try for a better qualifying position.

There is now talk that once qualifying is over the weights of the cars ought to be published so that the media can explain what happened in the knowledge that they are not guessing strategies. There is a decent argument that this makes sense given that teams cannot change the settings of the car at that point and the knowledge of who is running what may add to the interest in the race - and will make it easier for TV commentators to explain what is going on.

I have to say this is a good move by the FIA, although why we had the fuel burn period anyway I do not know, for it was boring even when you take out the politically correct environmental issues. The idea of releasing the weight of the cars is interesting and would certainly make it easier to explain what was happening for the race. I don't think it would affect strategies too much, for, as said, the cars cannot be changed and the teams are so clever these days that they have a very good idea who's doing what anyway. Sure, the length of the wheelbase of a car can be discovered from a photograph!

[certom]

Me too, I think that's a good move, that period of qualies was so boring and unuseful! But i don't know if a longer Q1 and a shorter Q3 is a good one

the old 60 mins/12 laps will always be the best

[texasmr2]

I believe it's a step forward but I also agree with certom's idea of bringing back the old 60min/12 lap idea. The FIA with all their rule's changes has gotten so far away from just plain racing it's sad.

[7UpJordan]

The current format's alright, but like Tom and Tex said, you can't beat the old 12 laps over an hour qualifying system. I remember they also used to do Friday and Saturday qualifying as well.

[al4x]

i really dont know about qualifying, i think the q3 should be longer than 10 minutes definitly

i also dont know if i like the 60mins/12 laps more or not, often the start was as dead as sthe fuel burning

im sure there is a solution but i cant think of one

id say 20 minutes for Q3 but youd want most of the cars out all through it, perhaps as many laps as you can but all you can do at a time is a warm up lap > timed lap > in lap then refil back to you start fuel and go again?

[McLaren Fan]

The new format is fine, but consequence of binning the old system of sixty minutes and twelve laps has meant pole position has totally lost is kudos. Now whoever has the lightest car in terms of fuel will be on pole, save a mistake of course.

[al4x]

it does shake up the grid a bit tho, im torn between wanting to see the fastest car on top and some over taking,

i sometime wonder about a reverse grid like touring car with 2 separate races, tho i know this has been discussed before

[texasmr2]

A reverse grid would be a spectacle to behold but there are too many risk of the truelly fastest being taken out of the race by a rookie or being blocked by the slower car's for half the race. There are few driver's on the grid now with superior overtaking skill and the ball's to make it happen but most of the track's now are so narrow it's a disgrace for overtaking .

[Jensonb]

I always preferred the idea of three 15-20 minute sessions with all runners, maximum of 6 laps in each session. But the way it is now (That is, after this change) sounds good too.

[darwin dali]

I don't miss the 60 minutes Q: most of the time nothing at all happened for at least 30 minutes. Frigging boring. With this format, there's always something going on, way more interesting, more drama potentially, faster paced, more entertaining.

[madbrad]

If MM has his way, they will soon be burning no fuel ever. Electric cars FTW!

[EwanM]

I believe it's a step forward but I also agree with certom's idea of bringing back the old 60min/12 lap idea. The FIA with all their rule's changes has gotten so far away from just plain racing it's sad.

Id agree. The new regs on engine life doesn't really promote equality where qualifying is concerned.

[8-ball]

i think this format is better as we get the drama of teams trying to post fast times in the dying minutes. Q3 was always the weak link so now they have tweaked lets see how it goes before we form an opinon

[certom]

I don't miss the 60 minutes Q: most of the time nothing at all happened for at least 30 minutes. Frigging boring.

Waiting for the big ones to do their laps was the most exciting thing! I remember that Minardi used to open the battle, and they always got the first position, and kept it at least for the next 5 minutes!

[ForzaGilles]

I don't understand the thinking behind qualifying at the moment...

We used to have a 1 hour session on Saturday, with drivers doing a maximum of 12 laps. The point was, the quickest driver took pole - even idiots like me can understand that!

The problem was nobody went out for the first 20min to save their tyres for the race, and millions of people sat around watching an empty track.

But I never understood why they didn't just address the problem of why teams weren't going out at the start. Which, to my mind, was because they had limited sets of tyres and needed to save as many for the race as possible. Limiting them to 12 laps also confused me - why? Paying spectators are there, the world is watching on TV - people want to see these cars flat out ripping up the track!

We then moved to a situation where we had guaranteed 'action' for the full time, by virtue of always having 1 car on track at 1 time... and that was the most boring thing I've ever seen. And now we have a system whereby only the last 10 minutes actually decide who will get pole position! What is confusing about this FIA people???????

My 'perfect' qualifying format would be a straight 1 hour free for all, no restriction on laps, tyres or fuel. The current system seems unnecessarily complex, and the fuel regulations just add yet more confusion. Just let the cars get out there and see who's fastest!