That's the thing that puzzles me.

Of all the stuff that's wrong with F1, quali' seems like it's one of the most not-broken parts.

I'm trying to imagine what the idea of this new system is.
Are they trying to create a situation where everybody just "goes for it" and burns through all their option tyres in a bid to stay in quali?
Trouble is, if they do that, they're going to end up with a situation where the first laps of quali' will be the fastest and then it'll get slower and slower as the remaining drivers only have primes to run on.

This seems to be yet another idea that's sole intention is to create some short-term chaos while the teams work out how to adapt to it and then it'll just settle into a routine.

I can't help thinking that a lot of these ideas are just being made in the hope that Mercedes will be tardy in adapting and giving some of the other teams a few points in hand at the start of the season.

I've thought that qualifying has been the most exciting aspect of F1 over the last few years.

Didn't see a need to change, one of the few things that seemed to have worked out fine.

I feel like they have been doing this with a lot of things for a long time now.

I read the Channel 4 F1 presenters will be announced next week. So far Steve Jones, David Coulthard and Ben Edwards are confirmed by some of the press. Could of been worse, although we'll have to wait and see how Steve Jones fairs.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blo...-4-f1-coverage

I think the whole thing is based around trying to create a situation where no television company ever has to fill a bit of time during a qualifying session.

The thing is if you realistically know you are like in the 5 cars to go out in session there is in many ways less point in doing more than one run. It is quite possible you could use up a set of fresh tyres doing an out lap and half a timed lap which can't be counted. So all of the pain without getting to attempt the gain. For some runners stopping taking part earlier will make more sense.

And here they are:

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/news/a7...esenting-team/

I weep for Lee McKenzie, I really do.

Look at the poor woman, skulking away, literally right at the back in that C4 picture and the very last name on the list too.

Anybody with half a brain should recognise that she's FTA TV's answer to Ted Kravitz and should be treating her with the respect that deserves rather than hiding her away in the shadows.

Hopefully somebody at C4 will have realised that she's one of the very few F1 journo's who has both a good grasp of most aspects of the sport AND (very importantly) also has the respect of the teams and drivers and treats her with the respect that deserves.

Ben Edwards is further from the centre than Lee McKenzie and he's the main commentator. And I don't think barely any thought was given to the list order.

What I am surprised with is how many people are in that line-up. C4 must have some money to burn.

I'm guessing that most of them will be part-time pundits but they've just got them all together at the same time for the studio photo's.

The long wait is over.

A couple of Comps if you fancy it guys.

1) 2016 Motor Sports : F1 Prediction Comp (Starts March 19th)

To join the Comp please go to

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[b]2)2016 : Motor Racing : F1 Fantasy Comp (Starts March 19th)

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You can PM if you have any problems.

Looks like the Merc' boys were out to make an impression in FP.

And it looks like Hamilton scored the first points in that battle.

I expect this new format to be scrapped by the end of the season because it just doesn't work.

4min 30sec to go in Q3 and the grid is decided. I got up to watch this Sums up F1, ignore the things that actually need changing and change those that were working well.

They should go back to last year's format. Reminds me of the year the they had a great idea for qualifying with aggregate times. Think that lasted one race. Not sure how long this will last.

Shame for the fans - how much real action did they see?

So glad ive lost interest, as just seeing the BBC sport app results this morning told me all I needed to know and suspected.

Just caught up with qualifying doesn't work 1-30 isn't long enough the cars all got caught out the 3rd session was virtually pointless they all gave up with nearly 5 minutes left

And if it doesn't work on this track then it definitely won't on the longer tracks although it seems they'll be going back to last year's format.

Haha, the only thing in this tedious ONE MAKE, 2 car sport that was anything other than as exciting as watching paint dry, i.e. the qualifying, has now been removed too!!
Enjoy the next 8 months of predictable, over hyped rubbish where only 2 drivers have a chance of winning the Championship before the season even starts!
If you want to watch some REAL racing on TV then either watch the Moto GP's or the Touring Cars, or in person, you can get yourself down to your local Stock Car racing track and see more action and excitement in one race than you will see all season in F1!
I wonder if it wasn't a Brit who was virtually guaranteed the title before the season started and had been someone like Vettel instead, if so many people would still be watching the rubbish!?

Can someone give an idiots guide to how this new qualifying works? I haven't a scooby what's going on, what's the 90 seconds thing they were going on about?

the 90 second thing is the current slowest car will get eliminated every 90 seconds.
With any luck this quali format will only be used here and normal service resumed in Bahrain

I live in hope that one day a little light bulb will go off above Bernie or whoever's running F1's head and they twig that giving the fastest competitors in a race a head start makes it a dull spectacle. Consequently they decide to put the slowest cars at the front and the fastest at the back. Following an excellent race people say, "F*** me! Why did we not do this years ago?!"

One day, maybe.

Or give the fastest cars a 2 second penalty. I'm not sure the reverse grid will be anymore successful. Personally I didn't see anything wrong with the format as it was.

Then we will see the competition of who can qualify in the slowest time. Reverse grid can also be dangerous at the start with a large number of faster cars trying to overtake a bunch of the slower cars at the front.

might as well just let the drivers pick a numbered ball out of a bag to decide grid position