Qualifying, My Thoughts
I don’t know about you, but I have been a huge fan of qualifying on race fuel and getting the chance to predict the true pace of a driver via the fuel-adjusted grid after the certified fuel weights have been published by the FIA. Next year, it’s all changing thanks to a ban on refuelling during the race and qualification is set to be run on very low fuel; but is this such a great idea?
Some are equally excited about the prospect of qualifying on fumes; citing great quali sessions from the 80’s and early 90’s before refuelling became the norm. With each driver starting on a relatively similar amount of fuel it does seem a fair solution, but personally, I’m not convinced it will add to our enjoyment. If the top teams qualify consistently well week upon week and there is no chance for a brave strategy or stunning drive to mix up the grid a little, will processional racing become the norm, and will we be left with even less overtaking as a result?
Ostensibly the reason for the refuelling ban is the need to save money, carting about expensive fuel rigs should no longer be necessary. I don’t buy into that idea; unless all teams will qualify on an identical amount of fuel that lasts for the full qualification session there will still be an out lap, a fast timed lap and an in lap followed by another fuel top-up and back out again after changing the tyres. Do the FIA want the situation where the cars are queuing up behind each other waiting to be refuelled from one or two fuel rigs? I’d doubt that, so I reckon the cost excuse is a poor one.
The other, often touted reason for the ban in re-fuelling is that re-fuelling acts as a natural barrier to overtaking. The teams all employ people to monitor how long the fuel pump is attached to a rival’s car, since they know the rate of fuel entry into a car and the fuel load required to complete a lap they can accurately predict when a driver is going to stop. How many times have you heard on the radio that driver “X” will be stopping in 2 laps time, would you really push like crazy to overtake if you know that you can sail past them at the next pit stop with less effort?
But what will qualifying entail next season?
That’s the million dollar question that needs to be addressed. Personally I can’t see why the current qualification system has to change even if all the cars are to start the race on a similar fuel load. What is the point in having Q3 where everyone is on the same fuel load unless the FIA adopt something new like some points for qualifying performance or making the cars that end session two at the front begin the final session from the back, in reverse grid fashion?
“There’s still debate about what that the format should be. For me, introducing a degree of randomness or a reward for qualifying is something we need to consider. And having a tyre that needs managing would create opportunities.” -Christian Horner, Red Bull
If the fans were to be given a say in how qualification would be run what system would you choose? My own view is that last year’s qualification system produced as much if not more excitement than the racing itself so why change it, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”?
I’m not suggesting that this is the best idea or that change in itself is bad but I feel that the changes to handling, grip and tyre wear that will result following the switch to full race fuel are enough and qualifying should be left alone. What do you think?
I like the format we’ve had now, but increasingly I got bored with waiting for the fuel loads to be released and the notion of “fake” grid positions. Although playing with strategy produced some surprises, in the end most of the time we knew the driver would simply lose the place at the first round of stops. The only time going light was ever an advantage were at tracks where 3-stop strategies were viable, so to run away at the front and open enough of a gap to make it work, and as we saw from Barcelona and Nurburgring, there were flaws even in that plan.
What encourages me for next year is that this year we’ve seen cars do well on Saturday and struggle on Sunday. If this carries on (which it should), it will provide situations for overtaking, and given the lack of fuel stops drivers will be forced to go for it, unless they are only making 1 tyre stop and the driver ahead is gambling on 2 (and then, it’s unlikely he will be slower anyway, so the situation won’t occur).
Personally I feel that Q3 should be done on full tanks, so to balance between cars that work well on low fuel getting through Q3 and cars (and drivers) who can cope with full tanks better. However, that would probably be very boring. The other idea is to switch to qualifying races on Saturday. The grid for these would be in reverse championship order, and the result would determine the grid for Sunday. Another way would be to reverse the Top 8 after Q3, but give half points for qualifying positions as if they were race results. Niko(Quote)
I think it’s difficult to know until we see some action under the new rules. I’d like to think there’ll be some cars with a better setup for low fuel, and some setup for the heavy stuff.
Hopefully that’ll be the case and not just one (setup) size fits all
Richard(Quote)
I really wasnt a fan when they brought this releasing the fuel loads business, and still I would have rather not known and had a good old argument down the pub over whether Sutil was on fumes
I look at it with an open mind.
However, I do wonder if it will be back for 2011. If we have a year of follow-the-leader style races as drivers can’t overtake then I expect to see it return.
Sadly, the whole idea of ‘qualifying’ itself is sadly fundamentally flawed, if the cars qualify based on who’s fastest, then the following car is slower so what chance of it overtaking? Adiebrown(Quote)
Have to agree with Richard. You can already see some cars that are better on low fuel loads and others that run better (than the opposition) when heavier and that discrepancy is going to be even bigger next year. The teams are going to be faced with an interesting task of compromising between race speed and a good qualifying position.
However, a second a lap advantage currently doesn’t mean you can get past a slower car so that game might be to no end. But then that is a whole separate issue.
Oh and please, no rewards for qualifying – a good grid position is reward enough and drivers should need no other incentive. Maverick(Quote)
I hate the current qualifying system with race fuel on board. It was one of a number of rules that was introduced to artificially shuffle positions. There is an assumptions that low fuel qualifying will lead to processional racing. This assumes that we don’t currently have processional racing which anyone who watched Abu Dhabi would dispute. Just now in many occasions there is no imperative to overtake because drivers can wait for a pit stop. Race fuel qualifying has killed racing and has led to situations like Lews Hamilton’s engineer telling him he had to make up 2 seconds over the next ten laps. That is not racing or entertainment.
To me no driver should ever lose a place unless someone takes it from him by overtaking him. I hate the idea that a driver can gain places by driving on an empty piece of track. At Imola one year Schumacher went from 12th to 2nd by overtaking one driver. The other positions were gained by Ross Brawn finding him an empty piece of track to drive on.
The current rules encourage drivers to find an empty piece of track and drive faster than an opponent and only to be on the same piece of track after the final pit stop. That promotes dull racing. There will be some processional races next season as there have every season in recent history. What won’t happen is that a driver won’t go from 12th to 2nd without overtaking more than one car. In that situation with the new rules Schumacher would have had to battle for every position and my only have made up 3 or 4 positions but each one would have been an overtake for position by cars in similar state. Most overtakes now are cars with no fuel overtaking cars with full tanks. Yes it is a pass on track but it is not a genuine overtake.
I would like to go back to the old 12 lap qualifying sessions. Those produced the best entertainment and the fairest reflection of performance. I couldn’t care less if there is the occasional 15 or 20 minutes of empty track. I can imagine q1 next year with 26 cars on track is going to result in some quick guys losing out and qualifying near the back of the grid because they couldn’t get a clear lap. Then they have to pass cars on track to get back to the front. That will produce more overtakes than someone in that situation fuelling heavy and hoping to make up places by staying out longer than anyone else and increasing their pace as their fuel load drops and they an some empty track to drive on. Steven Roy(Quote)
Just picking up on Steven’s point about overtaking having to be on the track instead of the pitlane. I’d love to get to that situation however I feel that by keeping the two tyre compound rule we are still going to have the situation where drivers will pit to change tyres and the team strategists are still going to work out a way so that they will so at a time that allows them to leap past as many competitors as possible. Surely they should keep it to no pitting except for accident repair to prevent that scenario?
I also liked the 12 lap rule (was that when they also had the 107% rule?). I feel that if they keep the current 3 session system but run with very little fuel in all sessions there seems very little point in having that third session, just set the grid after the second session.
What could spice things up is to do the first 2 sessions on low fuel and then have Q3 with a full tank; it would be good practice for the race and may minimise some of the benefits of being fast in quali and slow during race conditions. saltire(Quote)
I don’t want to return to 12 lap qualifying. Simply because of the lack of action for the first 20 to 40 minutes. I’m looking forward to seeing drivers with good pace struggle to find clear track to get into q2 or q3. This used to happen under the 12 lap rule as well though. (yes that was the 107% rule time)
And all this talk of boring races because of no refuelling is premature.
At the time when there wasn’t any refuelling, there also wasn’t a pit lane speed limit, so drivers could shoot into the pits, take 3 seconds to get new tyres on, and shoot back out, without any massive loss of time. Now the speed limit is in place, people will be forced to make the most of their tyres, and attempt to reduce the amount of pit stops needed to finish the race. I’m still unsure whether 2010 is going to be exciting on track, but I guess I’m more optimistic than a lot of other people are.
Qualifying should run on low fuel in q3 next season, and if it proves unsuccessful, then change it. startledbunny(Quote)
There is an argument that using Saturday to arrange the cars in order of performance, with the fastest at the front and the slowest at the back, will always produce less overtaking but perhaps that’s over-simplifying things. I certainly don’t want to have reverse grids, or draw names from a hat or anything stupid like that.
As Steven says, the current rules mean everyone uses strategy instead of racing to get past the other cars. Personally I’m sick of things like “you need to make up 2 seonds in the next 5 laps to get past him at the pitstop”, are we watching motor racing or a game of chess? Is that what all those guys on laptops in the back of the pits do? And I feel that publishing the fuel weights has made this worse, because now every team knows what strategy every other car is on, and what lap they are going to pit on, so there’s even less ‘unknowns’ going on to mix things up.
I’m not saying they should bring back the 12-lap runs in qually, as that always left the track empty (apart from the Minardis) for the first half-hour. But should they bring back the one-lap-specials from a few years back? It did provide a good mix on the grid, but it still smacks of being a bit ‘false’ so probably not.
I feel that low-fuel quallifying is when you really get to see who is the absoulte fastest, no holds barred (look at how many poles Senna had, even when in a poor car). You can’t say the same about the current Q2 because a good number of drivers in the better cars will always go ‘just’ fast enough to get through to Q1, without doing the absolute best they ever could – because they feel it’s not worth the risk.
Banning the refuelling should bring the overtaking back to the track, not the pits, and we can then enjoy qually as an event in it’s own right, not the first round in a game of tactics. Maybe they should bring back the super-sticky one-lap-special tyres? Pitmonster(Quote)
I’m looking forward to the changes for next year. I’ve always been a fan of absolute balls to the floor flat out racing, and that’s precisely what we are going to get in qualifying next year. I’m probably a little biased in that I started watching F1 in the 80s and have fond memories of Senna, Mansell et al pulling out amazing laps in qualifying.
I also think it will be better during the race itself with no refueling – Formula 1 should be about great overtaking and on-track battles, not strategies based around overtaking in the pit lane. No refueling will force the drivers into more action, and hopefully make them take more risks. All in all for me it’s a welcome and long-overdue change. Bill(Quote)