So the new qualifying has been confirmed for Australia now, after being delayed until Spain because not even the computer could keep up, and it has been met with “Meh” at best and complete indifference from most including two of the most high profile drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
A lot of the talk is that qualifying wasn’t really broken, and in fact it was one of the rare things in F1 that didn’t need improvement.
Some say it was too complex (read about what they’ve proposed here to catch up) but we say it may not have been complex enough. So we’ve come up with a format that should be even more needlessly complex and absurd than the current proposal.
Q1 – Now 4 Groups x 5 minutes. 22 cars.
Q1 is now split into 4 separate groups (Qualifying Pool), and which pool the drivers are in determined in a lottery that takes place in from of the world’s media after the P3 session.
Drawing order will be determined by the combined time of the drivers best lap from each Practice Session so far in the weekend, with the fastest choosing first.
For seasons like 2016 where there wouldn’t be an equal amount of cars in each pool, numbers will be made up by the two fastest GP2 qualifiers so far in the weekend.
All cars must leave the pits within the first minute of the session starting. Anyone who doesn’t is automatically eliminated.
After two minutes the car who is fastest is forced to pit to allow the other four to catch up.
The slowest car after the 5 minute session is eliminated.
Although any car who doesn’t better the GP2 car time is also eliminated.
Q2 – Max 18 cars. 15 minutes.
A new F1 social media like system for each Q2 session is required for each race this year and needed as below.
Cars line up in pit lane in order of slowest to fastest from all the times in Q1 no matter the qualifying pool group.
Once the 15:00 countdown starts the slowest car leaves the pits and all cars are allowed to leave at 20 second intervals. This gives a handicap of less time to the fastest car who would leave a full 6 minutes after the slowest car from Q1.
Any car not ready to leave when their allotted slot is due is eliminated.
After 9 minutes the slowest car will be eliminated. (1 car gone)
At 10 minutes the car with the fewest Facebook/Twitter likes for the Q2 session will be forced to pit and not able to defend their time any further.
After 12 minutes the two fastest cars will also be forced to pit.
At 13 minutes and for 30 seconds intervals after that until 14:30 the slowest car is eliminated. (4 cars gone)
At the end of the session the next 3 slowest cars are elinated.
Q3 – 10 cars – 10 minutes + 1 lap.
Cars line up in pairs at the Pit Lane Exit, with the 10th and 9th slowest cars leaving on 15:00.
Cars then leave in pairs every 25 seconds after that until all cars are on track.
Any car not ready to leave when their allotted slot is due is eliminated.
With 5 minutes to go the slowest two cars are eliminated.
With 2 minutes to go the next slowest two cars are eliminated.
At the end of the 10 minute session the next slowest two cars are eliminated.
This then leaves the four fastest cars who are required to remain on track and head towards the starting grid.
The four fastest cars line up on the grid in order of fastest to slowest.
There is now a one lap Superlap to decide Pole and the Top 4.
Once the Superlap starts the car in fourth at S1 end is eliminated.
The car in last at the end of S2 is eliminated.
This leaves a two car duel for Pol in the last sector.
Pole goes to the car in front at the finish line.
So there you have it, if F1 boffins want a complicated qualifying process that is impossible to follow, needlessly complicated, and really half arsed, please accept our above proposal.
