Well that was a bit of a disaster, mad rush at the start of each session followed by clock watching till the checkered flag. Thats going to have to be changed PDQ.
Absolutely stunning lap by Hamilton, did not see that coming at all after Rosberg's form at the end of last season.
But instead of coming away from qualifying thinking about what a great lap for pole that was, instead was thinking about what a "car crash" the new format is. Just does not work as there is no time to react to others' times.
I was never a lover of the three part top ten re-use Q2 tyres malarkey as prefer traditional straight qualifying like in most other forms of Motorsport (and historically F1 for so long), but that was better than today's shower. Last two battle it out? Not when the driver currently 2nd on the grid comes in to the pits with a couple of minutes of the session remaining.
I used to love watching F1 but over the last 4/5 I've got bored with it, just all to predictable with not enough overtaking or battles going on.
They should look back in history and see what the rules were like when there were multiple winners and different teams having drivers competing for the drivers championship.
Typically there was much more freedom around engine and aero. In 1989, there was a mix of V8, V10, V12, W12, and flat 12, on the grid, no forcing everyone to have the exact same engine configuration in various levels of excellent (Mercrdes) to bad (Renault) to awful (last seasons Honda).
Give every driver qualifying tires, same fuel, one out lap, two as quick as they can go, one in lap. Who goes first/last dictated by final positions in the previous race.
The cameras can then focus on that driver's laps and looking at the splits on tv would actually be interesting.
I've just finished watching it. More than ever I now feel that the qualifying show is not worth watching. It is, literally, as exciting as reading the result on Twitter.
It will have to change as Sky, and others, pay a fortune to be able to broadcast hours of it and fewer and fewer people will bother watching it.
I just liked the old format of 1 hour qualifying and that's it, no eliminations or sections cause we all know who's going to be at the front so just keep it simple and let them race.
this format was intriguing to start with, but I just ended up watching the countdown clock and most of the footage was drivers in their garages which is not what you want to see.
Give every driver qualifying tires, same fuel, one out lap, two as quick as they can go, one in lap. Who goes first/last dictated by final positions in the previous race.
The cameras can then focus on that driver's laps and looking at the splits on tv would actually be interesting.
Only problem with that is when there is changeable weather conditions ie drying track/ rain due.
Comments
But instead of coming away from qualifying thinking about what a great lap for pole that was, instead was thinking about what a "car crash" the new format is. Just does not work as there is no time to react to others' times.
I was never a lover of the three part top ten re-use Q2 tyres malarkey as prefer traditional straight qualifying like in most other forms of Motorsport (and historically F1 for so long), but that was better than today's shower. Last two battle it out? Not when the driver currently 2nd on the grid comes in to the pits with a couple of minutes of the session remaining.
Typically there was much more freedom around engine and aero. In 1989, there was a mix of V8, V10, V12, W12, and flat 12, on the grid, no forcing everyone to have the exact same engine configuration in various levels of excellent (Mercrdes) to bad (Renault) to awful (last seasons Honda).
Give every driver qualifying tires, same fuel, one out lap, two as quick as they can go, one in lap. Who goes first/last dictated by final positions in the previous race.
The cameras can then focus on that driver's laps and looking at the splits on tv would actually be interesting.
It will have to change as Sky, and others, pay a fortune to be able to broadcast hours of it and fewer and fewer people will bother watching it.
this format was intriguing to start with, but I just ended up watching the countdown clock and most of the footage was drivers in their garages which is not what you want to see.