The problem with trying to 'spice things up' by introducing changes to qualifying, refueling, high deg tyres, DRS etc... Is that it may work to begin with but eventually teams/drivers figure it out & fans go back to complaining about how dull & predictable it all is.

This is a big part of why I am so against using gimmicks, You start out with 1 but when that gets figured out you have to bring in another & then another & you get stuck in a cycle of been utterly dependent on gimmicks & other artificial methods to keep things spiced up.


By far the biggest problem with F1 the past 10-15 years has been that The FIA, Bernie & now the teams seem to be constantly, blindly throwing stuff around without giving anything any proper thought & so whatever sticks either doesn't work as planned, creates additional problems or quickly fall's off & requires another sticking plaster to cover the gap.

Instead of repeating this mistake 1 more time, I say that all the planned changes for 2017 be scrapped, The strategy group be dissolved & Bernie & the teams be completely removed from all decision making regarding the next rule set.
Jean Todt should grow a pair, Take control of the sport he's supposed to be governing & put together a proper technical working group made up of people that are currently outside of F1 (Guys like Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, Patrick Head, John Barnard, Gordon Murray, Steve Nichols etc...) who will be given until 2020 & whatever resources they need to put together a properly thought out set of regulations that ensure F1 is fast & features close, competitive racing without the need for any gimmicks.
You could also have Ex-drivers as well as current drivers involved to give feedback & advice on some aspects.

I'd also like to see Bernie removed from his position & CVC sell F1 to someone who actually gives a damn about the sport rather than the size of the cheque it puts in there bank account.
Lets get it online so that it has a larger reach, Lets distribute the funds in a way that is beneficial to all teams & lets not rob circuit owners to the point where ticket prices have to be as high as they are & where many traditional circuits are under constant threat.

Day 2:

SSN Reports:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3t...-reports_sport

Paddock Uncut:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3t...ck-uncut_sport

Ted's Notebook:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3t...notebook_sport

Thanks for the links Stef.

The qualifying we have now is the best it's ever been. The new format means that a driver is heavily punished for a mistake on their first run and that just means they'll all drive conservatively so as not to be eliminated. It might produce the odd shock result, though we get those anyway, but I don't see how having less cars is any improvement. As said I want to see 10 cars going for it at the end of Q3, not 2.

Ted Kravitz speaking earlier in the Barcelona paddock on the qualy format changes;


More thoughts from Ted;


From Sky F1 Mark Hughes

I don't mind the new qualifying format (If i've got it right, basically it's the driver who's last every 90secs gets knocked out - thereby effectively forming the grid up 1-by-1) actually. Although I don't like that it still takes place over 3 mini-sessions. I always hated that format: "AND HAMILTON GOES FASTEST! Oh wait, this session only decides the bottom 5 of the grid so that doesn't matter right now"...

I agree with a lot of what you said, but I think this is a bit harsh on Todt - Formula 1 is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the FIA's remit is concerned, and he has been quoted as saying that it accounts for less than 10% of his job.

Perhaps those the work is delegated to are the ones who need to get their collective rears in gear...?

As has been suggested in the past, maybe he should re-introduce FISA with its own president, to focus specifically on Motorsport.

Sounds like an awful idea to me and I see one massive flaw in the plan, which is this:

A car running around the circuit is 5 seconds into a 1:40 lap when the timer is reset to 1 minute. That driver has no opportunity to set a faster time nor does any driver 34 seconds ahead of him. The guy 6 seconds behind him does have that chance as does every driver up to 53 seconds behind that.

What an absolutely stupid idea!

They might tweak it so that at the time the clock hits 90secs, the flying lap the drivers are currently on must be the final one before they can get knocked out.

Bernie quote on the new qualy;

Just sounds like it's going to get very messy and hard for the casual/new viewer to get interested in.

It sounds awfully complicated. And Eric Boullier seemed to suggest it was the last lap that counts, not the fastest lap.

Also the Autosport article says "drivers must be on track throughout each part until they get knocked out."

So if Boullier is wrong, the cars will set one fast lap then just cruise around (like the good old "fuel burn phase" until the next "phase" (of the same qualifying segment ) is entered

But by the time everyone finishes the lap they're on, the time could already be into the 90 second period after that, you can't finish the lap you're on or it would be a total mess, like this...

Say the top 3 is Hamilton, Rosberg, Vettel when the time hits 1.30 to go in Q3, Vettel had just crossed the line to start a new lap, while Rosberg crosses the line just after the final elimination point to start his attempt at pole.

In theory it should be a head to head between the top two, but who are the top 2? Vettel completes his lap to go second, meaning Rosberg was only third a minute and a half earlier. Seconds later Rosberg crosses the line with the fastest time of the session, but it'd count for absolutely nothing. The cut-offs have to be fixed points or it won't work at all.

Q3 looks like it will be pretty boring if the drivers have to stay on track - they'll already have used the best life from their tyres in the first five minutes and won't improve their times, so will basically just be circulating as individuals are picked off for the rest of the session.

Wider tracks to facilitate more overtaking, financial limit on how much teams can spend on their cars (admittedly difficult to enforce), some sort of rule that every few races drivers who have qualified near the front of the grid are moved back in the pack for the start. And if all else fails, incorporate some of the features from Super Mario Karts to give the trailing drivers a chance to catch up. Who wouldn't want to see Pastor Maldonado in 7th place armed with three brown shells on the penultimate lap at Silverstone?

Good point. It's never going to work is it?

This sounds like one of those things that's reported as fact when it's just a proposal that gets immediately thrown out at the next meeting. Let's hope so.

More gimmicks to 'deal with' the lack of real racing caused by their previous gimmicks that were meant to deal with the lack of racing...

Pastor doesn't need weapons to take people off the track!

Actually I would like to see single-lap qualifying returned a la 2003. No messing about Re. blocking, and the drivers only have 1 chance to get a lap in (after all, they should have got up to speed in the Free Practice sessions).

I bet there have been millions of calculations done for the new qualifying system already by most of the teams.

BTW, isn't Manor looking good!

The F1 Show, in its current format, is no more. Half hour episodes will air on the Friday of each weekend, premièring at 08:00 (i.e. 30 minutes after FP2) on Friday 18th March. Looks like the new format will not be live, so definitely a sign of cost-cutting.

In its place, the Midweek Report goes weekly under the F1 Report title, again 30 minutes in length.

Just to follow up on what Dave said as well, all practice sessions (and Qualifying) for the AUS GP will be simulcast on Sky Sports 1. Wonder how long it will be before we get the 'F1 Channel Axed' comments due to simulcasting...

SKY F1 should be axed

Sky should show the shared live races with C4 on pick tv and sky 1

***PICK TV KLAXON***

Edit: Surely not both at the same time??

I'm beginning to think the media must have got hold of the wrong end of the stick with this qualifying.

Surely the only sensible interpretation of eliminations is that things run much as they do now, and drivers can go out whenever they like, except there's a gradual system where they progressively disallow the driver with the slowest time (of those that have not yet been eliminated) from taking any further part.

The effect of this would be

* The quick drivers can't afford to wait until the end of qualifying to set their time, they have to get a decent lap in before the eliminations start being applied
* A driver with a car problem at the start of a session has much less time to get that corrected before they risk being eliminated.
* A bad lap early on means you're more likely to be eliminated

I just can't see how it could work otherwise; if drivers are forced to be out for the whole time, that totally changes qualifying into being a combination of the old fuel burn runs, lift & coast and tyre saving.

Whilst I'm still of the opinion that qualifying wasn't the thing that needed fixing (except for the possibility that slightly more random grids might mix up strategies and promote more genuine overtaking) has this all just been a bit of miscommunication from the strategy group?