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[onelapdown]

Autosport 27th March http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/66117

Felipe Massa believes this year's regulations have made the final qualifying segment boring in comparison to previous seasons.

The final session has been shortened to 10 minutes for this year, eliminating the wasteful fuel burning seen last season at the start of the final round.

Refuelling is not allowed now between the end of qualifying and the start of the grand prix, which means drivers have to run in Q3 with the fuel they will start the race with.

Ferrari driver Massa says the change have made the final session boring.

The Brazilian also believes the governing body should look at introducing a new rule to avoid cars going too slowly at the end of qualifying, a problem that cost McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen a penalty in Malaysia.

"There has been plenty of talk about the new qualifying format and whether or not we need to introduce a means to stop cars slowing too much to save fuel in Q3 on the lap after their quick one and certainly I think we need to discuss the situation," said Massa.

"Personally, I don't find the new sporting regulations concerning qualifying in Q3 do much to make it more interesting. At least in the old one you got to do a low fuel run but now it's a bit boring running with the fuel you will use to start the race.

Q1 and Q2 are so long and then you have to wait in the garage and having a very heavy car to drive in Q3 is not really much fun, even if I put in a fantastic qualifying lap in Q3 in Malaysia to take pole position.

"In the past, it was a bit more fun from the driving point of view. Maybe we need a rule change because of this problem of cars going slowly on their in lap, but let's wait and see what suggestions people come up with."

If I've said it once I've said it a hundred times: just let them qualify on their own fuel load without reference to the race and there's no issue whatsoever.

[Jensonb]

I completely agree 1LD, this whole race fuel qualifying thing is pointless nonsense

[Rivelution]

Well Q3 is boring because Massa drives a Ferrari. For teams like STR, Super Aguri, Force India, and the like, Q3 isnt boring. However I do agree that Q3 is a bit too lonq, and Q1 is too short.

[7UpJordan]

They should go back to the old 1 hour, 12 laps, anything goes format.

[Denthúl]

They should go back to the old 1 hour, 12 laps, anything goes format.

Yeah.

Or even just one single lap. That would probably produce some rather different (and interesting) grids because if you mess up, you don't get a second chance...

[7UpJordan]

They should go back to the old 1 hour, 12 laps, anything goes format.

Yeah.

Or even just one single lap. That would probably produce some rather different (and interesting) grids because if you mess up, you don't get a second chance...

And you'd get a Minardi on pole.

[texasmr2]

And you'd get a Minardi on pole.

And F1 would most likely increase it's spectator count by two fold! I alway's loved seeing a mid-grid or lower grid team hit their qualifying setup spot on and increase their starting position two fold but once the race start's they are normally back where they usually are.

[Sam-KK24]

Reverse Grids would be fantastic, then we'd see who can overtake!

[Denthúl]

They should go back to the old 1 hour, 12 laps, anything goes format.

Yeah.

Or even just one single lap. That would probably produce some rather different (and interesting) grids because if you mess up, you don't get a second chance...

And you'd get a Minardi on pole.

Exactly! That would be awesome.

Reverse Grids would be fantastic, then we'd see who can overtake!

No. Noooooooooo...

[Lem]

Reverse Grids would be fantastic, then we'd see who can overtake!

Let's wait till Massa has gone first

[7UpJordan]

Reverse Grids won't work, people will be deliberately going slow or badly setting up their car so they go slowest and get pole.

[Lem]

Reverse Grids won't work, people will be deliberately going slow or badly setting up their car so they go slowest and get pole.

They could do it based on championship position but I expect that would mean the end of qualifying.

Can't see a good excuse for it really.

[7UpJordan]

They could do it based on championship position but I expect that would mean the end of qualifying.

Can't see a good excuse for it really.

Me neither, if it was implemented it would really look like a sad sign of desperation. And if they based the grid position on Championship position it would turn more into a lottery for every race if you went to Monaco where overtaking is difficult. Yes you'd probably have lots of different winners but F1 is about rewarding the best drivers and the best cars, not the best luck.

There's nothing wrong with topsy-turvy grid races but to have one at every race because of Championship position instead of "what happened in qualifying" just seems very wrong.

[deMuRe]

Reverse grid qualifying would work, but only if you got some points for qualifying well. Otherwise it would be sand-bag city.

12 laps, anything goes, there was nothing wrong with it, just stop the teams building qualifying spec cars and there is no problem.

What we have now is rubbish and I can't believe with all the bright minds we have in F1 they can't think up a better solution.

[bud]

Reverse grid wouldnt work, we see already that a faster car has trouble following let alone passing a slower car. so all youd see is for example Kimi in Australia getting past a few cars off the line but then getting bogged down behind a slower car once everyones up to speed in his case the Honda of RB.
Reverse grids didnt work in V8 Supercars they ditched it halfway through the season so cant see F1 doing besides it doesnt favour the fastest guy just a crash derby for fans.