Does 1 Lap Qualifying Work?

[rdjones]

Well that is the first 1 Lap Qualifying, over does it work. I am still not sure.

[J.McClane]

I definetly think its an improvement.

The drivers have to be on top of thier game now, they only get 1 shot.
It sorts the men from the boys.

[DavidStHubbins]

Although the last minute drama of qualifying has gone it means sunday will be more interesting as we wont really know what fuel load they have etc. Getting different cars up the front and increasing the likelyhood of top drivers( this time Kimi) messing up and starting near the back is all part of the new qualifying. ALthough the saturday spectacle is diminished this means sunday should be big fun!

[Adam43]

It partly sorts the men from the boys it partly sorts the high fuel loads from the low!

And the talk is what do you make of so and so's tactics. Hmmmm. Chess.

[Inigo Montoya]

But in the end, the best driver and team will win

[Jukebox]

Aye to that Inigo

[f1manoz]

I think it's great. Makes the whole weekend from Saturday afternoon quite unpredictable, and we've already seen the results: two Saubers and two BARs in the top 10. Who would have thought??

Both McLarens and both Renaults NOT in the top 10!

[Lee Janotta]

Yeah, certainly gives one hope that the race might be a bit more interesting!

Here's hoping Channel 10 keeps focused on the action!

[Bibendum]

So many imponderables. I enjoyed both Friday and Saturday (Thurs/Fri here in the US). I worry a bit about the start, with cars running potentially different fuel loads, but then I'm <i>always</i> worried at the start... Here's to a good season! Cheers, F1 fans.

Bibendum

[DNQ]

I love the new system. Will be even better when the scope to stuff up increases with the removal of the driver aids at the British GP.

[Jay]

It's the way drivers have qualified on American ovals forever... on a road course though? I like it, but unless one makes a huge mistake it doesn't usually produce that much of a different grid than the other way.

[dretceterini]

All that this has done is prove the Ferraris are the best cars out there, and MS is the best driver. I don't like the man, but that doesn't discount his driving abilities.

[Mark Webber]

I'll say Yes but until it all folds out in the race its hard to say

[golem]

I think it's an improvement in equity for the teams which is the most important thing right now. Equal airtime, easy to understand, tense.

It'd be just as good without the refuelling rule but at least this way the back teams can get up front and mix it up by running lighter strategies.

[twig]

it was quite interesting to watch, but of course, the meaning of the results in qual will become seriously apparent at the end of the race.

Maybe two qualifying sessions becomes a little boring, as the order on saturday qual really doesnt matter.

I think is cool, but i think change the order like the champ cars have it on the ovals.With the fast cars last.

[Valve Bounce]

The only ones to suffer were Minardi - with that stupid idea of not turining in a time, they basically said their team was rubbish. And they have lost all support from me for the year with that chicken excreta effort.

[Miss Hardt]

I couldn't wake up to watch the quali, but the results showed that it's OK...hmm...when it comes to Interlagos, I'll tell you what I think

[R]

Baritone24, do you suggest that the faster cars should run last also in Friday qualifying?

I do not like the no refuelling rule between qual and race. If we look at the "one hot lap" in Saturday qualifying versus the full qualifying hour which we've had previously, I'm not sure if this is an improvement. I quite liked the old qualifying procedure, as it often produced excitement, and we saw who was the fastest driver + car combination in a qualifying setup with a low fuel load. Thus, all pole position statistics must now be archived, and new statistics must be started, counting the new rules only, as they're not even remotely comparable.

It'll be more about tactics, and no one can reveal how much fuel they had onboard in any post qual interviews, as that will be giving away their race strategy. The McLarens are obviously on a heavy fuel load. So predicting pole will be more difficult. Saturday qualifying is now basically the first lap of the race, and it probably pays to be a little conservative. Stuffing up, and thus ending up far down the grid, will (especially if you have a light fuel load) leave you with a lot of work to do on the Sunday.

[AussieV8]

I think it works but WHY red up the front... Yuk !

[badoer fan]

It's made very little difference so far. Red at the front, black at the back. Will be interesting tomorrow tho.

I withhold judgement for a few races.

[Peter Mallett]

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
...................it partly sorts the high fuel loads from the low!

Interesting point. Do they send both cars out with the same fuel load and run one two (or more) laps less? Or do they fuel one for a long stint and one for a short stint?

I'm looking at the time differences between say the BARs and the Williams' irrespective of your view of driver capabilities, all four drivers put in (to my eyes) good clean error free laps and yet with BAR ther's a couplre of tenths and with Williams there's 7 tenths (ish). Seems like there may be a fueling difference in the latter.

The Saubers seem to be well matched and it was only a small mistake which separated the two. So similar fuel loads there I would think.

That's the kind of thing that will make the race interesting.

[D.R.T.]

Nah I didnt like it at all. It gives all the teams some Tv time and there 1min 30 secs as the centre of attention, but apart from that I didnt really enjoy it as much as I did for qualifyin in previous years

[RT]

I do not like one-lap qualifying basically on one count:

It penalizes the young, quick, risk-taking, up and coming new drivers (that was a lot of adjectives wasn't it?).

What we're seeing in tomorrow's grid is some kind of "Gerontocracy" with a bunch of older guys at the top. Although we know that experience counts, I'm not sure Kimi wouldn't be up there if he'd had another chance, and Jenson would not necessarily be behind Jacques if there had been two-lap qualifying at least.

I like the idea of mixing things up a bit and I do really like the speculations of low or heavy fuel loads. All I say today is two laps would put more of a premium on risk-takers.

[racer69]

I've never been a fan of this type of qualifying.

Sure it's been in place at Indianapolis and Bathurst for years, which really i don't mind that much, but nowadays it's too common and used everywhere.

And qualifying no longer proves who is the out and out fastest, because it will always be affected by race strategy and whether you want to work on your car overnight or not.

But it suits the sponsers because every car gets seen so i guess it will stay.