Brundle: Qualifying format needs tuning
The success or otherwise of F1's new qualifying format will ultimately be decided by the opinion of spectators and TV viewers, but ITV commentator Martin Brundle gave a mixed reaction after he stepped out of the booth to speak to autosport.com
"I think Friday was much better but Saturday is questionable because it's difficult to read what was really going on - they are going to need to make some final tuning," said Brundle. "Overall I think it's an improvement. I found it better to commentate on, especially Friday, when we went out live. The only problem is that Saturday didn't quite work. I'd give Friday nine out of 10 and Saturday six, because the fuel levels just make it too confusing.
"You can keep explaining until you are blue in the face that every 10 kilos of fuel - which they really want to hear in gallons anyway - is worth 0.37s of a second per lap, and that therefore what you are seeing may not be what you are seeing, but only a limited number of people will want to hear it and take it on board.
"Saturday used to have 25-30 minutes of nothing on the race track, which was garbage, but then the last 20 minutes was fantastic. But you did miss people. For me, one of the greatest things now is that I know everybody's car and what it's doing. And how they changed it between Friday and Saturday. I saw everybody's every corner. So that's great. You could hone in and really watch and see the drivers under pressure.
"Overall then, thumbs up, but there's two things I'd like to see. First is release the T-car. It's daft to have Raikkonen sitting in the pits watching practice while the punters are watching an empty track - just stupid. And I'd like to see the fuel out and banzai qualifying laps on Saturday. Or, make them drive over a weighbridge so that we all know what fuel they've got in before they go out."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments