The Formula One teams have agreed on making significant changes to the qualifying format as an attempt to improve the spectacle of the sport.
Following lengthy discussions about multiple changes to the sport including success ballast, reverse grids and points for qualifying, teams have agreed on one topic and that is to adjust the qualifying format from potentially the start of this season. However, final confirmation of any such change still requires approval from the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council when they next meet in March.
The suggested new format will continue to involve three qualifying segments but instead of eliminating the slowest seven drivers after the session time has elapsed, the slowest driver after seven minutes into the 16-minute Qualifying One (Q1) session will be eliminated. Then every 90 seconds thereafter to the end of Q1 the slowest driver will be removed with 15 drivers progressing to Qualifying Two (Q2).
Q2 will last for 15 minutes and after just six of those minutes, the slowest driver will no longer be able to take part and then every 90 seconds the driver at the bottom of the timesheet will also be eliminated leaving just eight drivers through to Qualifying Three (Q3).
Often referred to as the “top ten shoot out”, Q3 will instead focus on elimination and a final head-to-head. The session will last for 14 minutes with the slowest driver eliminated after just five minutes. The slowest driver every 90 seconds after will be eliminated with just two drivers remaining in the final 90 seconds of the session. The faster of those two will be on pole position.
Whilst the proposed change would make for drivers having to continue lapping the circuit from start to end of the sessions and, therefore, more action and potential drama, critics will argue that qualifying didn’t need to be fixed and the focus should have been on improving the racing instead.
