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View Full Version : New Qualifying style for 2004



devilmaster
10-17-03, 02:57 PM
All qualifying now takes place on Saturday.

Its a little convuluted, but it basically looks like both qual sessions will be run back to back on Saturday.

http://www.crash.net/uk/en/news_view.asp?cid=1&nid=79144

Steve

Lizzerd
10-17-03, 03:46 PM
I don't like it. I agree with Paul Stoddard. The top teams will go in the first session, set fast times, and have up to two hours to fiddle with the cars before they go out in the second session. Minardi, likely going out near the end of the first session has but a few minutes before they take their second timed lap.

Sure, you could say to Minardi, etc. to just get better, but it still just doesn't seem right to me.

On the other hand, changing weather through the afternoon could make qualifying very interesting. I still don't like it, though.

Question: What was it that was so bad about two timed sessions, anyway? If the new format this year was to force cars to qualify in race trim and fuel load, they could still be parked for the night after the second session. Hmmm... thinking about it, that opens another can of worms. There would need to be a rule forbidding tweaking the chassis, changing tires, and adding/removing fuel during the session, I guess. It would also make the first session irrelevant. Maybe not such a good idea afterall...

RichK
10-17-03, 03:58 PM
The good part about this new system is that teams like Ferrari can't use a "special" car on Friday in order to get a super fast qualifying time for Saturday's real qualifying order.

This year, they had all of Friday night to change the cars over, so that if they had special radiators, brakes, engines, suspension settings etc. for the Friday quals, they could switch them out for Saturday quals and race.

The new system doesn't give them enough time to change alot.

I'm still a fan of a qualifying session with all the cars out there.

Chaos
10-17-03, 08:56 PM
my qualification rules would look something like this years, except have 2 flying laps, rather than 1.

Fenster
10-18-03, 06:29 PM
Originally posted by Chaos
my qualification rules would look something like this years, except have 2 flying laps, rather than 1.

And ditch the fuel load rule. Lets get back to real qualifying (i.e. fastest cars at the top). None of this fuel strategy pole position crap.


--Fenster.

Methanolandbrats
10-18-03, 08:06 PM
Originally posted by Fenster
And ditch the fuel load rule. Lets get back to real qualifying (i.e. fastest cars at the top). None of this fuel strategy pole position crap.


--Fenster. Exactly. A couple hours of open qualifying. Tweak the cars and go back out. The current format is bull****.

Chaos
10-18-03, 08:20 PM
ok...allow teams to refuel before the race, but that's it. They still have to go to parc ferme...

Dirty Sanchez
10-21-03, 10:45 AM
On paper this new system sounds like an improvement. The balance of the action is now more evenly distributed. Having attended four F1 Fridays this year in person, I can honestly say they have been brutal to watch... and definitely "miss-able".

There is nothing at stake in the Friday qualifying session at all and the fans realized it and stayed home. Most (not all) of these guys are trundling around at 90% just trying not to make a mistake. There is no advantage in going dead last and no incentive to push.

An extra hour of practice (with the bottom 6 being able run a third car) is more bang for your Friday buck, imo. The third car is exempt from running team livery as well. That should make for some interesting looking cars throughout the year... and is just the kind of thing that can potentially give coin to the have-nots. Grouping both the sessions on Saturday with two 45 minute morning practice sessions is also an improvement, imo.

More cars on track for longer periods of time :thumbup: