Teams Reject New Qualifying Format for 2020 F1 Season
Formula One’s team principals had previously expressed moderate interest in a plan to add a fourth “Q4” qualifying session to the 2020 season, but nine out of the 10 teams reportedly changed their minds after running simulations of the new format.
For those in need of a refresher, the current format includes three sessions. The fastest 15 drivers in the first session (“Q1”) qualify for the second session (“Q2”). The fastest 10 drivers in Q2 qualify for Q3, and those drivers’ times in Q3 determine their final grid position for the Sunday race.
The new proposed format would reduce the duration of all three sessions (Q1 and Q2 would be 12 minutes each instead of 18 and 15 minutes, respectively, while Q3 would be 10 minutes instead of 12), and add a 10-minute Q4 session. Q4 would feature only the top 8 drivers from Q3, which would feature the top 12 drivers from Q2, which would feature the top 16 drivers from Q1. The break time between all sessions would also be shortened.
So why complicate things? In 2016, attempts to change the qualifying format were met with disastrous results. “The prevailing view amongst sporting directors is that the current system is not broken, so why try to ‘fix it’ and risk introducing something that doesn’t work,” a team source told RaceFans.
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Supposedly, F1’s commercial rights holder Liberty Media put forward the Q4 plan because it would create space in the qualifying hour for one extra advertising break, making the session more valuable for broadcasters. So it’s about money. (Is anyone surprised?)
Some of the teams cited concerns about the new format’s implications for tire allocations. At the moment, teams usually begin qualifying with five sets of the softest compound available. While the quickest teams can usually get away with using the medium compound to get into the later qualifying rounds, midfield teams would likely need to exhaust their allocation of soft tires.
This would either leave midfield teams unable to set a competitive time in the final round or require them to purchase several additional sets of soft tires for the race weekend, thereby increasing operating costs.
Several of the drivers have also said they don’t see the need for a Q4 session, including Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hülkenberg, Max Verstappen, and Romain Grosjean. “I don’t really see the point,” Grosjean said. “I think three is pretty cool. Having a top 10 shoot-out is quite nice. I think we’ve tried many, many qualifying sessions. It hasn’t really changed the world.”
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News Source: RaceFans
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