No new qualification system before Spain

Once again, it has been proven that one should not confuse speed with haste. Last week, the main officials of F1 gathered in Geneva for a meeting on the future of F1. It was concluded that the qualifying sessions would once again be changed by implementing an elimination system every 90 seconds, forcing the different drivers to be on track continuously to avoid the risk of being eliminated.

But Bernie Ecclestone admitted today in the columns of The Independent that such a change caused practical problems, starting with the software in charge of managing the timing: « The new qualification system will not take place because we cannot have it in time. It was supposed to arrive at the beginning of the year, but we will not be able to have all the software done in time. The new qualifications will probably arrive starting from Spain. In Australia, we will have the old qualifications. All the software has to be rewritten, and it is therefore not simple. »

The F1’s chief financial officer also took the opportunity to emphasize that he was not in favor of this change. He would have preferred to keep the qualification system but impose a time penalty system so that the driver would be forced to climb back up the grid: « I wanted something simple. I wanted to keep the qualifications as they are because they are good. If a driver is on pole and won the previous race, he should receive a certain number of seconds penalty. He would then have to fight to climb back up the damn pack and be in the lead, which he would do anyway. That would make for an exciting race. »

But the teams opposed such a reverse grid system, which could be easily bypassed by the different drivers. F1 could have avoided such a cacophony if a bit more strategic vision had been used…

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr