F1 | Hotseat. New qualifying format

The F1 Commission and the Strategy Group have sketched the new qualifying format that will determine the starting grid of World F1 Grand Prix. The session of an hour remains divided into three segments (Q1-Q2-Q3) respectively of 16′, 15′ and 14′. Instead, the elimination system and the pole-positions assignment will completely change.The “hotseat” could became part of the Circus.

The first elimination will happen after the first 7 seconds of the Q1 followed by the other eliminations after every 90 seconds. After this session, only 15 drivers will join the next round. In Q2 the slowest driver will be recalled to the pit after six minutes, and just the faster 8 drivers will access to Q3, the final session, with eliminations that will start after 5 seconds and repeating every 90 seconds. The two best drivers will dispute the pole position in the last 1.30 minutes.

The aim is to create some havoc in the grid, trying to make races less predictable. This decision needs the approval of the World Motor Sport Council on March 4.

GIAN CARLO MINARDI: “It is something new that surely deserves to be tried, but this idea does not convince me because I do not believe it can change the cards at play drastically. Given the few time, Strategists could make some mistakes in Q3, but I do not expect any overturned show. Moreover, it could be a difficult reading for the audience in the stands”.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE has already announced that the new system won’t be operative before the Spanish GP. “We are not ready with the software. Thus, the World Championship will start with the already known qualifying. It isn’t the very format I’d have liked to see, but at least it mixes the cards making the grid less predictable. I’d have preferred thinking to some penalizations”.

Wouldn’t it have been better to announce  the new format with a ready software?