You read the title right. The FIA has indeed bestowed yet another F1 Qualifying "format" upon us all. However, instead of improving the quality of on-track action, the goal of this is to aid F1 in becoming more sustainable for future race weekends. So, what does this format entail? And, more importantly, what do drivers, teams and fans make of it? Will we see it become a more permanent fixture in 2024? Here's my take on it.
Earlier in the year it was announced that a new qualifying format would be trialed at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. But, due to flooding in the area, the trial was pushed back to last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix. A second trial will also be taking place during the Italian Grand Prix weekend in Monza at the beginning of September.
In usual qualifying circumstances, teams would have free tyre allocation, meaning they could fit their cars with either the softs, mediums or hards. With the new format, however, the team's rights to that free allocation is no more. Instead, each session will have a mandatory compound with all drivers on the same rubber at all times throughout each session. For example, the hard will be available in Q1, the medium in Q2 and soft in Q3. If it is a wet session, teams and drivers will have a free choice when it comes to the tyre compound.
Are you still with me?
There is quite a logical explanation as to why the FIA are trialing these changes. It's all about sustainability and becoming more environmentally viable for future purposes, with the main intention of bringing fewer tyres to each race weekend. Over the course of a regular race weekend, teams are usually set an allocation of 13 sets of tyres. With the new format, it's reduced to 11, which in time will lower waste, while at the same time, possibly giving team strategists a big "strategy headache." And, although the reduction to 11 sets from 13 doesn't sound too extreme, it does mean a total of 40 sets (160 tyres) could be saved over the course of the race weekend. That's nearly 4,000 tyres per season, presuming it becomes a permanent change.
Before the trial got underway, many were apprehensive as to what was on the cards, with some even wondering if we were about to have a replica of the disastrous 2016 Elimination-Style Qualifying. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were especially vocal on the changes after FP1 and FP2, saying;
"With this new format, you are just super limited with the tyre sets that you can use, and I didn't want to use them today (in practice) to at least have a bit more of a better preparation for tomorrow. We have to see what we can do to improve that, because we are literally saving tyres, which I think is not the correct thing." - Max Verstappen
"I only had one tyre for the session. So, not really a great format change they made for this weekend. It just means we get less running, so not ideal. There's a lot of wet tyres that I think they throw away after the weekend, like a lot. Maybe they should look at something like that rather than taking time on track away from the fans." - Lewis Hamilton
However, in my opinion, despite the limited running in practice, which isn't ideal for teams and fans, the new format gave qualifying that added extra spice. The first "big name" to drop out was George Russell and Mercedes who found themselves in 18th and out of Q1. On-track traffic seemed to be the cause of this. The same can't be said for Carlos Sainz and Ferrari, who were the big casualty of Q2 with Sainz blaming this on Ferrari's struggle to get to grips with the medium tyre. However, for the likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, the format worked like a charm and all three qualified in the top 10. But for Hamilton, it was perfect. His first pole position since 2021.
So, what was the official verdict from the drivers?
Kevin Magnussen, who was eliminated in Q1 said,“Makes no difference really.” A fair enough statement from a driver who wasn't able to reap all the benefits from the new format. However, the majority were more accepting of the possible changes with Sainz, Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda saying;
"Today I paid the price for it (the new format). For F1, if they want to spice it up – I don’t think they need to – but if they want to mix things up a bit then mix them up.” - Carlos Sainz
"I like it. I think it brings an extra element to the qualifying because there’s always going to be someone, some team who struggles on certain compounds." - Valtteri Bottas
“I think it’s good for the fans to have hard, medium, soft, it’s better than the same colour. It’s more fun to drive, it’s more challenging, so it’s OK.” - Yuki Tsunoda
As for fans on social media, it seems to be quite a 50/50 split on opinions. Some think it's worked well, others aren't so sure. Another percentage feel it could work well with a few more changes. For me, I am torn. I found qualifying different and more "on the edge," but was that the format or was that Red Bull scarifying their qualifying set up in favour of a race set up? Who knows. But for fans, they're here for the on-track action and with a reduced tyre allocation for the teams, it's written in stone that time on-track will also be heavily reduced. For the long term though, this new format definitely has it's advantages, but I think it needs to go through some "trial and error" before it's perfect. I'm not going to write this format off just yet. But right now, I wouldn't expect it to go permanent for 2024. I'll come back to you after Monza.
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