New Qualifying Format 2016

Has anyone seen this? Where has this come from? Big changes coming to qualifying for this season, if ratified on 4th March:

"Formula 1 bosses have voted unanimously to deliver a dramatic overhaul of the qualifying format for the upcoming season.

Following a meeting of the Strategy Group and F1 Commission in Geneva, the format change has been voted through to spice up the show.

Qualifying will remain as a one-hour session, split into three segments, but drivers must be on track throughout each part until they get knocked out.

Details on how the new qualifying format will work exactly have yet to be decided, but the general outline has been agreed.

Q1 will now last 16 minutes and after seven minutes the slowest driver will take no further part in the session.

Every 90 seconds thereafter, the slowest will be knocked out until there are only 15 drivers remaining.

After a short break, Q2 will commence and last 15 minutes with the slowest driver eliminated after six minutes.

As was the case in Q1, the slowest driver at the time will be knocked out at 90-second intervals until eight remain.

Q3 will last 14 minutes and see the process repeated again with the slowest taking no further part after five minutes.

The next five drivers will drop out at 90-second intervals leaving the final two drivers to fight it out for pole in the final 90 seconds.

The change will require ratification by the World Motor Sport Council, which next meets on March 4."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122937?source=mostpopular

 

Sorry, this shouldn't have "Grand Prix Thread" on it, can't take that off now.

*Edit* - fixed.

 

Wtf

 

Utter nonsense format, nothing wrong with what we already have. In fact, it's one of the few things we have right now that doesn't really need changed!

 

Only F1 could introduce a rule change like this without any warning at all, just a few weeks before the new season begins.

 

Sounds hilarious.

 

To be honest the first part of qualifying has always been boring ever since the format was introduced. I quite like the idea, the only thing I dislike about it is that while they were supposed to be having a serious debate about the sport's future and saving it from the horrible mess it's in, they were ****ing about tinkering with something as insignificant as this. Every year it's the same ****, last year they swept all the big issues under the carpet and banned drivers from changing helmet designs instead. Useless bunch of ****s the lot of them.

 

**** sake. Should be chaotic atleast it will keep everyone on their toes.

Nobody gambling on primes and boxing then

 

It's not really much of a change really. Still three periods of elimination. Will only come in to play in mixed condition or if someone is struggling to get a lap. Will have to see how this alters things.

Wonder what this means for the race starting tyre. I hope they abolish that old rule.

 

That shouldn't change, as long as you're confident your time will still be top 15 at the end of the session you don't need to go out again. Everyone will have to be on track early though, no waiting until the middle of the session when it quietens down because if you haven't set a time in the first seven minutes you're out. Just means there's going to be something to watch all through the session, whereas currently the first 15 minutes of running is completely meaningless. Even in Q3 the first runs are bankers and don't count for all that much, if you're hovering around 6th, 7th, 8th you won't bolt on a set of used options for your first runs, that's going to put a bit of pressure on the guys further up. Should be much more interesting. Strategy's going to come into it a bit more, if you're challenging for pole and just have one fresh set for Q3, do you gamble on a used set for your first run or do you take the fresh set? And if you take a fresh set do you try to preserve them on your first run so you can get another lap out of them, or do you go all out for the pole lap on your first run? I'm actually looking forward to it.

 

I'm not to upset about this..
At least cars will be out on the track from the get go..
The faster cars will circulate on the slowest tyres they can get away with and towards the end of the session bolt on the quicker boots to get the necessary time in..
To propose such a change, for this year, this must have been on the agenda for a while, no way can this group devise and accept such a change in such a short space of time, they usually take a 6 months to decide the timing for the next meeting+menu!

 

Will the cars turn into ghosts when knocked out?

If not this concept doesn't feel authentic enough....

 

Not sure this is properly thought through. For example and especially the third session, when (if) the teams close up, only two will be battling for pole. Even last year we had some will it be Vet, Ham, Ros, moments.

 

It's a useless idea. If they wanted to change it, give everyone 12 laps and 1 hour and just go hammer and nails. At least that way we can have a multi pole battle!

 

I don't think it's a massive change, but should increase on-track action and shake up grids occasionally, particularly in changeable weather. It's also going to mean there's something to pay attention to throughout the quali period, rather than only really the last two minutes of each session mattering.

I saw a suggestion that I think originated from Pat Symonds, which makes an awful lot of sense. Saturday is a 22 lap race, with the starting grid reverse championship. Last place is eliminated each lap, and that becomes their grid position for the actual race. Mercedes starting at the back might not fight through to get pole each race, but should get far enough that they can challenge for a race win on Sunday.

The advantage being that suddenly overtaking becomes a priority for everyone. Top teams need to be able to overtake to get points on race day, you can't take the Red Bull approach and ace qualifying and accept a compromised race. Teams would have to build cars that can overtake, and the top teams would suddenly be keen to push through regulations that lead to overtaking.

 

"If it isn't broken, break it."

 

That's the F1 way. That and "If it is broken fail to agree how to fix it, then ignore it".

 

So we introduce softer compounds which the teams select 10 seasons in advance, and then create a musical chair quali format that will need harder compounds because of the number of laps the driver will need to complete?

Has nobody in their infinite wisdom also taken into account yellow flags that can take minutes to clear and the additional mileage on the engines?

 

interesting, in effect it becomes a race for grid position, lots of chances to **** someone over lap by lap. Kimi takes a penalty so Hamilton and Rosberg start at the back

 

I'm just waiting for the Pom Pom girls, monster trucks and a Budweiser puppet show to be added!