New Qualifying format - Confirmed (from the European GP)

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:28 am

according to Euro press sources, Bernie and his boys are having a meeting with the teams at Immola to discuss a new qualifying format for the rest of the season !!
Few TV broadcasters are covering Qual., with the present format, so Bernie is not making enough money.

sgd · Post by **sgd** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 8:41 am

it would be interesting to listen to the proposes...
although I like the current format, it would be, of course, better to have the pole on saturday...

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:47 am

Test friday, p1 and p2 and qual saturday and race sunday

Ed · Post by Ed » Sat Apr 23, 2005 12:58 pm

Not much details available at this stage on Bernie's plan however a single session on Saturday is proposed.

Not many stations are covering Sunday qualifying

grandprixdiary · Post by **grandprixdiary** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:49 pm

Longish reply - I'm ill at home and bored so now you can be too. The one thing that amazes me about the proposed change to this stupid format is that the only person who opposes any change is Briatore. What happened to all the 'F1 is a show' 'We must do more for the fans' stuff then Flav ? Anyway here is a bit from an article I wrote for Grand Prix.com about qualifying:

And then there is qualifying. If there is one area of F1 that has been completely messed up with spectacular efficiency then it has to be qualifying. The problems started when the sport adopted the "one-by-one" format. The plan was to avoid having periods when the track was empty. Every car would get equal coverage and the TV ads could be slotted in nicely. Fine, except it is as dull as dishwater and has never really produced the mixed up grids which we were promised. That format might have been a disaster but it was infinitely better than the two session system we now have. Saturday qualifying is no longer qualifying, it's just the warm up act for the proper (untelevised) session on Sunday morning. Everybody hates the new system, everybody acknowledges it is a failure. And here we are are still not watching it.

Why? Qualifying is a doddle to fix. What you need is a system which gets rid of the "After you Claude" nonsense with each car having a number of laps, half of which must be completed in the first half an hour and half of which must be done in the second. Refuelling should be allowed at the end of the session (so we can go back to seeing some balls-out qualifying) and tyre choice should be made after the session. Simple. That way, when Michael Schumacher reaches Ayrton Senna's amazing pole tally of 65, it will be a record which means something, which under the current system it does not.

If that all sounds pretty similar to the way it used to be before they messed it up, it may be because the average man in the public understands a very basic form of human logic. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:12 pm

grandprixdiary · Post by **grandprixdiary** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:44 pm

You are too kind....

Rob

JayVee · Post by **JayVee** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:26 pm

While I am all for the old 12 lap format, the Sat-Sun format sucks big time, the old format has flaws too. You had the 30 minutes of nothing and then the problem with traffic. And from an advertising point of view the slower teams got no coverage.

Splitting it into 2x30 minute sessions means that we'll have 2x15 minutes of nothing

Forcing all the cars to go out once every 15 minutes maybe a better way. If they choose not to go out then they lose 3 laps.
In order to avoid heavy traffic at the end of each 15 minutes and to give some exposure to the slower teams, drivers will be given a time to leave by according to their previous result/previous 15 minutes but they can leave before that time if they want.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Sat Apr 30, 2005 7:58 pm

grandprixdiary wrote:You are too kind....

Rob

In a rough colonial kind of way

Bundy · Post by **Bundy** » Mon May 02, 2005 11:54 am

Just to spice it up a bit how about this CIRT (although it has some relevance);

The last finisher from previous race drives winners car (in qual only)
Winner drives last place car. etc etc...

Then you have a reverse grid where fastest car starts last, slowest starts first etc etc....

WHAT AN IDEA!!!!!!!!!

I doubt anyone will go for it though... Would be interesting to see the times set by the Minardi drivers in a Renault & Alsonso in a Minardi.

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon May 02, 2005 12:09 pm

bundy wrote:Just to spice it up a bit how about this CIRT (although it has some relevance);

The last finisher from previous race drives winners car (in qual only)
Winner drives last place car. etc etc...

Then you have a reverse grid where fastest car starts last, slowest starts first etc etc....

WHAT AN IDEA!!!!!!!!!

I doubt anyone will go for it though... Would be interesting to see the times set by the Minardi drivers in a Renault & Alsonso in a Minardi.

imagine the repair bill after the first corner....20 into 1 won't go

Bundy · Post by **Bundy** » Mon May 02, 2005 12:11 pm

LOVE IT!!!!

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon May 02, 2005 12:14 pm

bundy wrote:LOVE IT!!!!

Minardi would be broke and forced out of the championship, after 1 race, and given that Fiat is looking to TATA for financial aid, ferrari would be out after 2 races

JayVee · Post by **JayVee** » Mon May 02, 2005 6:24 pm

I assume bundy you are just having fun

Bundy · Post by **Bundy** » Mon May 02, 2005 6:28 pm

who me......