A way to make Q3 more exciting?

[ESPImperium]

Personally, the single lap shootout in lottery format would be my ideal.

However, there is a way for me, and thats make drivers do a minimum ammount of laps per Qualifying session, or just for Q3.

Or what id do is follow the DTM format with a Q4. That means every session would see 6 cars drop out.

Q1: 20 Minuites
Break: 5 Mins
Q2: 15 Mins
Break: 5 Mins
Q3: 10 Mins
Break: 5 Mins
Q4: 5 Mins
TOTAL: 70 Minuites

However, im not sure what the TV companies would think. For the fans it would be great i think. However, what could be done is the break between Q2/Q3 and Q3/Q4 could be done away with, and teams that didnt make the cut off for that time get called into the pits. You could go back to the old 2006 rules that drivers had to det a time before the end of the session, if on a fast lap when the time runs out, tough luck, come again at a later date. That could put more pressure on, and create more mistakes. It also means that the top cars have to use all tires to get to pole, if they want it. Brings quali to a real climax that is worth watching in my opinion.

[i70q7m7ghw]

The problem is the regulations around tyres are now out of date. Teams should be allowed a qualifying only allocation of tyres, this mean they have nothing to lose doing several runs in qualifying.

3-4 sets of option tyres for qualifying only, if they want to use more they can dip in to their race tyres.

The qualifying format is fine, let's not go back to changing it every year heh?

[alelanza]

I like it as it is, yeah we get less action now, but then the races overcompensate for that. Before quali was a flurry of events, with the races being more minimalistic, now it's a bit the other way around. People keep saying 'we want more action' but i think we need the calmer periods of time in order for the action packed ones to really stand out.
The reality is that given the current status of things, no alterations in the quali format will change the fact that we go into all quali sessions knowing that barring tech gremlins, Vettel will always be P1 and barring psychological/tech gremlins Webber will always be P2, so all we have left is who'll make the second row and that's not as exciting. To compound things, the fight for 3rd place isn't always well covered by the race director, for example today we got plenty of shots of the RB garages and despite Fernando being on home turf we didn't even get to see his lap, whereas they gave us a far better coverage of the bulls and maccas' laps, track position chart included.

[lebesset]

how about one run on primes and one on options , team's choice which to use first , aggregate time to decide position

that would make them scratch their heads

[SiLo]

So a single lap shot for each driver? No thanks.

I preferred the old system of a 1 hour session, 12 laps each and they can do what the like with those laps.

^THIS.

I don't care how many tyres they use, I just want to see them all out for pole etc.

[Pingguest]

The thing that bothers me most is the post-qualifying parc fermé. They should get rid of that first.

[N12ck]

I think to make it more exciting, make qualifying worth something, as has been proved this year the race is more important than qualifying (thankyou schumacher, hamilton, heidfield, vettel, button) during the spanish gp, they proved qualifying doesnt count for everything, so, I think it must be compulsory for cars to do a lap (as opposed to sitting out to save tyres), i also think the time should run out when it gets to 0:00 to make it more exciting so drivers cant leave it til the last minute, and how to make it worth something like race position i dont have a clue

[machin]

The problem is the regulations around tyres are now out of date. Teams should be allowed a qualifying only allocation of tyres, this mean they have nothing to lose doing several runs in qualifying.

I'm with you on this. The current format is otherwise excellent. Remember the old days .. 55 minutes waiting, 5 minutes of action... dull... lets not go back.

[Pingguest]

The problem is the regulations around tyres are now out of date. Teams should be allowed a qualifying only allocation of tyres, this mean they have nothing to lose doing several runs in qualifying.

I'm with you on this. The current format is otherwise excellent. Remember the old days .. 55 minutes waiting, 5 minutes of action... dull... lets not go back.

The reason why the pre-2003 qualifying sessions were dull sometimes, was that drivers had to preserve their tyres and laps.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Exactly the same problem we have today. If you give them an allocation of tyres they can only use in qualifying, they will have nothing to lose in doing some runs.

[doink]

With the tire degradation, these things lose pace on each lap, so once you've done one run, then your second run on the same set will have to be pretty special, as you'd need to better your previous time with less grippy tires. Therefore, when giving an allocation of tires, you will get teams going out and trying a second lap, but most of the time it'd be futile. The only way to do this would be to allow a stupid amount of tires per session and that's not in keeping with environmental and cost factors.

[n_anirudh]

Make drivers do 2 timed laps in Q3 and take an average...

[DaveKillens]

At heart, I'm an old-fashioned purist, and cherish dearly the days when the cars truly were set up for qualifying. To watch Montoya rip up Monza was one of the mental images I will carry to my grave. But those days are long gone, and there's no going back.

The new system (remember how many times they monkeys with it?) was in response what was said earlier, we had 55 minites of sheer boredom followed by five minutes of excitement. So they broke it up into segments, and it finally gelled and started to be interesting. I recall last year, when almost every race we saw all the top cars popping into the pits with five minutes to go to put on fresh softs, and give it their all on the very last lap possible. That was exciting and interesting.

Now, it's very different, in the last two races the Red Bulls were so dominant and the desire to preserve a set of tires so relevant, they parked their cars before the final qualifying session had ended. For Red Bull it's the highest order of head games and intimidation when they can do that. But for the fans, it lessens the relevance of the final moments of the entire qualifying exercise.

Somehow the game has to be changed so that all the cars are forced to fight to the very end, and for the fans the outcome will be in doubt until the last car crosses the finish line. How do we get there? Well, let's pinpoint the reason why they aren't fighting to the last second, and it's because of the restrictions of tire use. And secondarily, it's also because of a lack of parity. Barring a force majeur, Red Bulls will start 1-2, and McLaren 3-4. There's not much to get excited about when before the weekend even starts everyone is certain on the starting order of the top 4 cars.

So, somehow the teams need more tires, even just one set of softs. And measures need to be taken to bring back a semblance of parity. Hmm, there had been talk about changing the blown diffuser, and this just might be one avenue the FIA is pursuing.

[Fil]

Yep, DK is on the ball.

The fault does not lay with the format. Have we ever seen such qualifying dominance from one team before?

If you must point your finger, direct it at the 11 other teams.

[nipo]

I think it is near perfect. What it lacks in terms of "action" is more than compensated by the fact that there is more room for error (you get only one shot), and more so by the action we seen on race day - which is, after all, the more important event over the weekend.

I like the way the teams can now opt to run less options and conserve them for the race, sacrificing grid position for race pace. And unlike most people here, I don't really think Pirelli needs to fix the performance of the hards. Button's 3-stop worked, and it shows that alternative strategies are possible. If you make the performance of the hards closer to the options, it would make it too predictable and a clear strategy will come out which most people will choose. Currently that is not the case, it is a little bit unclear for teams whether a 3-stop or a 4-stop is better, and you could gamble to sacrifice grid position - it might work out, it might not, and that's great!

I don't understand why we need to increase the importance of grid position. In previous years we were screaming there is not enough incentive for overtakes. Now you get DRS and these tyres and surely we see a much bigger appetite for passing on track, but people complain. In previous years we were screaming qualifying is too important and the race is just processional, so now we have a format which seems to suggest qualifying is not as important as it used to be, and people also complain. I really struggle to understand.