http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93716 I wonder if this is necessary. Isn't qualifying a sufficiently exciting affair these days? Perhaps my mind goes back to that dreadful day in May 1982 when on his qualifying tyres which were past their best, Giles Villeneuve was lost to the world. I appreciate there were other factors involved that day but the association of those tyres with the loss of the hero from the ' boys' own magazine ' as someone once wrote of Giles, makes me lament the unnecessary return of these things. What do you think pals?
Bringing back qualifying tyres would mean changing the qualifying format, at the moment a driver has to start the race on the rubber they qualified on obviously that will not be possible. How many sets will each driver get considering there are three qualifying sessions. one for each session two maybe or just one set to use tactically for all three session. in which case HRT, Virgin and lotus could stick the soft rubber on in Q1 and sail into Q2 with the loss of some big guns. So I'm sorry as I said qualifying tyres could not possibly work with the currant format. Help me out somebody I'm losing the plot.
Excellent news, seeing the cars at their absolute limit in qualifying is a real spectacle. Watching them on super grippy rubber through Becketts and Copse would be breathtaking. As an added bonus it gets rid of this ridiculous and unsporting scenario where we have the grid starting on used tyres and the others getting a fresh set.
As others have mentioned, the format doesn't really suit quali tyres in the slightest, although I'm not opposed to changing the format of qualifying. Saying that though, it wouldn't need to be a drastic change, just drop the rule about the top 10 starting on quali tyres, and give each driver maybe 4 sets of tyres which will only last one lap (+race tyres)? With a maximum of 4 runs over 3 sessions, that puts a big pressure on the top drivers to deliver each lap perfectly, which could lead to more upsets, and a greater emphasis on driver skill? If, for example, Massa used all 4 sets of quali tyres just to make Q3, then he'd either start 10th, or have to put a lap in on the softer of the race tyres, to try and beat anyone in a similar position. Another thing that needs considering is whether quali tyres really fit the new "eco-friendly" F1 that we seem to be heading for. Burning through lots more tyres in a short space of time does not give the viewer (singular - it's a race on sky) the impression the sport is doing much for the environment. Whilst this doesn't bother most proper fans in the slightest, for some reason Bernie always goes chasing the half-interested fans.
I would prefer it, atm the person sitting in 10th is penalised for being faster than the driver in 11th, and I think that is unfair. Also, as previously mentioned, seeing the cars going as fast as they can would be excellent, I'd also like to see the teams allowed to do pure quali set-ups with no parc ferme. (in the 80's they used to turn up the turbo boost so much some of the engines blew up on the way back into the pits, now that is truly 'on the limit'). As to the 'eco friendly' BS, a proper sorting out of the calender would be far more eco friendly than saving a few tyres per race, and I now see they're talking 'bio-fuels' for eco, not sure about that, for example palm oil is 4x more pollutant than petrol.
I think reducing it to two sessions and giving them three sets would work well. As for the eco-friendly thing, Pirellis whole hi-deg philosophy doesn't really suit that, so I don't think they'll be too concerned.
eco-friendly green **** is a political band wagon the the government use to stick their grubby little hands deeper into our pockets, the catch phrase here is "seen to be" it doesn't really matter if it does any good or not, which it doesn't
I'd like to see qualifying tyres. I've noticed that those who go out in Q1 end up doing well in the race because of the advantage of fresh tyres - good examples being Kobayashi in Turkey, Webber in China and Algersuari in Valencia. I dont think its fair that they should be rewarded with this tyre advantage for doing a bad job in qualifying. Also, we've seen this year that some drivers are doing less running in an effort to save their tyres for the race, like the top teams sending their drivers out for 1 run in Q3. What fustrates me the most is when some drivers get to Q3 but then dont set a lap because the team knows 8th or 9th is the maximum so they don't waste a set of tyres. In my opinion, we should see all drivers pushing on the limit for qualifying without having to be concerned about their tyres for the race.
I have said this on other forums and I agree it makes a complete mockery of what qualifying is all about.
I see no need for it yet, particularly in the face of many other imminent changes. The current format has made qualifying a real spectacle and has contributed enormously to the increase in F1's viewing figures. That said, it could be that Pirelli might envisage making just one set available to each team, or even restricting them to 'Q3'; if they were to keep the current, rather exciting knock-out system. However, I have no idea how Pirelli or the FIA might envisage re-introducing 'Qualies' into what must be regarded as F1's best ever system for the all-important viewer. Perhaps Murdoch might have a view to *offer us all when he feels like it? *'Offer'? I meant 'impose' of course…
Would they even be able to last one whole lap without going off? The SS tyres dont last too long under that much stress, I cant see this being helpful tbh. The amount of penalties will also go up due to people "Being in the way"
Not for me! However they could do what the old touring cars used to do which was a layer of Quali rubber on top of the race compound to through more strategy decessions into place. If the qualified on that tyre they would get about 3 laps of quali rubber and about 5-10 laps (track dependent) on the race rubber before the cliff! This may shake the grid up abit more because they would be much faster (1-2 sec per lap) but would have to make a much earlier stop!
