Ecclestone criticises qualifying format
F1 impresario, Bernie Ecclestone, has gone into overdrive in airing his views about the sport's new qualifying format. He has called it "horrible" and concluded that "there's no fighting - the excitement of qualifying is gone."
Speaking to journalists on Saturday, after qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, he said: "First the drivers are not driving on the limit and then they only do one fast lap and return to the pits and do nothing - they can only watch.
"The new system is not working. We are going to wait a bit longer and then we are going to change it, yes. They want to transform our sport into a show. Did you see a show today?"
McLaren boss Ron Dennis shares the opinion and sees the best technology on display, in low fuel qualifying trim - the only true test of the outright speed of a car - as an essential ingredient of the sport.
"If you move towards F1 being a show - to the detriment of the technical challenge - you will lose the fundamental fabric of grand prix racing. The experts will recognise that; start writing about it as being a show, not F1, and that will put us in a negative spin."
The villain of the piece, FIA president Max Mosley, has said: "The rules (as opposed to the procedures) cannot be changed during the season without unanimous agreement, and I think that most of the teams will feel we need more time to see the full effect of the new rules."
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