Formula 1 qualifying in 2014 is set to change after the teams voted for a revised format in a bid to encourage drivers to fight for pole position in Q3.
Currently the tyres used by a driver in Q3 must remain on his car at the start of the race. This rule had led to drivers less likely to win pole position to stay in the garage during Q3 in order to preserve tyres and to give them freedom of choice for the tyres used to start the race.
A proposed change to provide an extra set of tyres to all drivers for Q3 should encourage increased competition for grid positions. Although, as is the norm in F1, it’s not quite that simple.
At the end of Q1 the 16 drivers to progress through to Q2 will all be given a fresh set of option tyres (softer compound). However, this extra set of tyres can only be used in Q3. If a driver fails to make it into Q3 he then gets to keep that fresh set of tyres for the race.
Conversely—and this is where it gets a bit weird—drivers competing for pole in Q3 must use the new set of tyres and then hand them back to Pirelli after quali. They will then start the race on the set of tyres they used for their fastest lap in Q2.
Confused yet? The upshot of all that is that Q2 runners get an extra set of tyres compared with those who make it into Q3 and therefore an advantage still remains for midfield teams to sit out of Q3.
There are also proposed changes to the length of time each qualifying period runs:
- Q1 to run for 18 minutes (down from 20)
- Q2 to run for 15 minutes (no change)
- Q3 to run for 12 minutes (up from 10)
While the teams have voted in support for these changes they still need to be rubber stamped by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, which meets next week. It’s expected the changes will come into force before the Australian Grand Prix.
[Source: The F1 Times | Pic: Pirelli]
3 replies on “F1 teams vote for extra qualifying tyres”
Would this mean teams are less likely to sit out of Q3 in order to save tyres?
That’s the theory, but it seems odd to me that the six Q2 runners who don’t make it into Q3 are given an extra set of tyres. Presumably this is to help bring them back into contention for the race. I wonder if they’ve just shifted the problem of sitting out Q3 back to Q2?
If you’re in a Marussia and have somehow made it into Q2, why would you bother trying to get into Q3 when you’ve already got yourself a fresh set of tyres. Add that to preserving tyres in Q2 and you could be better placed to move through the field in the race, or at least maintain position.
Bizarre stuff, instead of properly fixing qualifying they keep tinkering around the edges!
How about a simpler format with the following rules:
1. First session 25 minutes long, for all cars.
2. Top ten proceed to do individual one lap runs, like the original and best Top Ten Shootout format as at the Bathurst 1000.
3. The top ten get to do those runs on one extra set of either super soft tyres or the team’s choice of intermediate/wet tyres, which must be handed back to Pirelli afterwards.
4. For all runners, no tyre-related restrictions carry over to the race outside of the total number of tyres allowed for the weekend.