How to fix F1 qualifying

Formula 1 will take the next steps in its 2016 qualifying saga later this week, with a change to a format based on 'aggregate' times under consideration for the Chinese Grand Prix.

While we wait to see how Thursday's meeting develops, when a vote on the new proposal is expected, Autosport's experts have put forward their own suggestions for how qualifying should be changed.

The only stipulation we applied was a block on going back to the 2015 system, since F1's decision-makers seem to have written that 'common sense' option off entirely.

HAVE HEATS AND A 'FINAL'
Ben Anderson, Grand Prix editor (@BenAndersonAuto)

If I had absolute power to fix F1's qualifying conundrum I would give Lewis Hamilton exactly what he wants - racing like his karting days.

Do away with the traditional two-hour Sunday format and split it into four races. Grids for three heats are drawn at random - but add up to a front, middle and back-of-the-grid start for each driver - and whoever races their way to the best combined results gets pole for the final.

The final would count as the grand prix, for which championship points are awarded, but it would also be a sprint race - just a bit longer than the heats.

No pitstops, no refuelling, no tyre management - just flat out racing four times on a Sunday. Nothing else would have to change, except the tyre compound choices and the size of the fuel tanks.

The races would be better, the drivers would be happier, and the cars would naturally be faster without any dramatic technical regulation changes.

But I don't have absolute power. Back in the real world I would actually change the tyre rules rather than tweak the knockout qualifying (though I'm not a fan).

All drivers should be given free choice of tyre for the start.

Effectively mandating the top eight start on the softest tyre creates an anti-competitive situation where midfielders are effectively encouraged to deliberately try not to qualify as best they can.

Witness Romain Grosjean's delight at Nico Hulkenberg beating him to Q3 in Bahrain. That farcical scenario is the true antithesis of elite sport.

PUT TEAM-MATES HEAD-TO-HEAD
Ian Parkes, chief F1 correspondent (@ianparkesF1)

According to Bernie Ecclestone it was the race promoters who called for change, claiming there was not enough action on Saturdays.

If that was the case then let's leave Friday practice alone for now, but that is all the teams and drivers get - just those two 90-minute sessions.

If we have a Friday hit by the weather, as was the case in Australia, then tough. It will make what follows on a Saturday more exciting and unpredictable.

FP3 is replaced by a qualifying session which becomes team-mate versus team-mate. It is what every fan wants to see - a shoot-out between the two guys in the same car, with four laps apiece on the softest tyre and spread over 40 minutes.

The top guy in each team takes grid slots 1-11, with the slowest 12-22 for a 100km sprint race, incorporating one mandatory pitstop utilising the softest two of the three compounds available that weekend.

Points are awarded to every driver from 22 down to 1 so at least there is some reward for the backmarkers.

For the grand prix on a Sunday, the natural order of times are taken from Saturday qualifying to form the grid, so qualifying counts double.

Not only are you aiming to beat your team-mate on a Saturday, but you are also shooting for the pole that counts for the F1 record books on a Sunday, with the current scoring system retained.

It means we don't lose the sanctity of what F1 racing has been all about over the years in that we still have a pure grand prix on a Sunday, but we now have added fun on Saturday.

TWEAK THE CURRENT FORMAT
Lawrence Barretto, F1 reporter (@lawrobarretto)

There are elements of the new elimination-style qualifying format that are not actually that bad.

What F1 must avoid is swinging from one random idea to another because that will only further confuse and anger fans.

So if F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt continue to insist a return to 2015 is not an option, I believe the current elimination format should be kept but with some tweaking.

Q1 and Q2 should remain a knockout but each segment should be made longer to allow for teams to do two runs.

To ensure drivers don't burn through their tyres too quickly, particularly the smaller teams who are under more pressure to react and complete more than one run, each driver will get an extra set per session. This must be handed back if unused.

Q3 should be shortened with the format reverting to 2015-spec without any eliminations.

That will allow the session to build to a crescendo and bring back the drama of as many cars as possible completing their laps in the final seconds as the chequered flag falls.

REVERSED-GRID QUALIFYING RACE
Glenn Freeman, editor (@glenn_autosport)

Let's use the unpopularity of the 2016 qualifying changes to go radical and do away with traditional qualifying altogether.

Replace the usual qualifying hour with a sprint race to determine the grid for Sunday - with the Saturday grid being set by reversed championship order.

An hour should be long enough to allow the quick cars to come through, so we get to protect the integrity of Sunday afternoons, given how many people feel the grand prix itself must remain sacred.

This whole qualifying mess started because promoters wanted a mixed up grid but F1 was too afraid to go ahead and do it properly. To steal a line from Autosport magazine editor Edd Straw, F1 wants all the consequences of reversed grids (namely lots of overtaking and cars out of position) without actually lining the cars up in the 'wrong' order for the start.

This way we get to adopt a more controversial format, without tinkering much with what happens when the points are on offer.

Lewis Hamilton said last week that his favourite races are the ones where he has to charge through from the back. Let's give him a few more of those.

HAVE A 'SUPERPOLE' Q3
Dieter Rencken, F1 contributor (@RacingLines)

The 2015 qualifying structure worked fine to all intents and purposes, save Q3 sometimes got too busy to follow all cars on their showdown laps - this applies equally to television and live audiences, given trackside spectators watch at least 80 per cent of any given lap on big screens.

My proposal is: run Q1 and Q2 as per 2015, or even convert both sessions to the current elimination-style qualifying if push really comes to shove, then let the final eight have single-lap shootouts, with the order based on Q2.

The top eight (or ten if required) are granted one set each of the softest tyres the supplier is prepared to provide for that circuit. These can be used for hot laps only, and are returned post-session.

Effectively as one car starts its 'hot lap' so the next car is released from pitlane. This format ensures action all the way to the end and a pressure-packed, nail-biting finish as the session is not over until the final car has run.

It also guarantees the top eight a complete lap of TV exposure as cameras are focused on each driver - to the benefit of race promoters and broadcasters.

LEARN LESSONS FROM MOTOGP
Mitchell Adam, international editor (@DrMitchellAdam)

Unfortunately, the current performance disparity between cars on the F1 grid would kill many of the world's best qualifying formats.

The reason something like the DTM's 20-minute, all-in sessions work so well and helped produce 14 different polesitters from 18 sessions last year is that the cars are so closely matched.

But let's have a crack at a take on the MotoGP format, and make practice more meaningful at the same time.

We'd have two segments - 15 minutes each - aimed at having drivers on track on fresh rubber as much as possible, trying to go faster than other drivers.

The combined top five from Friday practice earn a guaranteed Q2 spot, which should encourage running on those wasted wet Fridays. On Saturday morning, the fastest five drivers in FP3 not already in Q2 also earn a spot.

The fast guys get Q1 off, as the remaining 12 drivers fight for the final two Q2 spots, setting the order for 13th through to 22nd in the process.

After a 10-minute break, we go again for the pole-deciding Q2 with the fastest 12 drivers of the weekend fighting it out until the end.

Tyres? Let's give each driver two sets of ultra-softs for each session they participate in, even if the compound isn't nominated for a weekend - effectively bringing back qualifying tyres (total of 48 sets across the field at each event) as they could not be used at any other time during the weekend.

Teams can dip into their regular allocation during either session if they want, and either way would have complete freedom within their tyre bank when picking rubber to start the race on.

TEAR IT UP AND START FROM SCRATCH
Matt Beer, deputy editor (@mattofautosport)

It's hard to know what to want from F1 qualifying. Potential for a mixed-up grid? A chance to see the cars at their absolute peak on the limit? An intriguing episode that builds mid-weekend drama but doesn't detract from Sunday as the single main event?

To me, all those things are important. Some form of heat basis so that the main protagonists don't go head to head until Sunday is tempting (and fits my desire to make all motorsport more like the Formula Ford Festival), but that needs a bigger field than 22 to truly work.

Let's try to combine all that then. Friday: an hour of practice, then an old-school, full-field, free-for-all qualifying session but only 20 minutes long (with unlimited tyres).

Saturday: two 50-mile heat races with a random grid reversed for the second one.

Sunday morning: The winners of the heats and the 'qualifying' session (with second-place people as required added if somebody won more than one) do a one-lap superpole shootout to decide first/second/third on the grand prix grid.

Average results from Friday/Saturday decide fourth backwards. The Friday/Saturday events are streamed for subscribers, Sunday's main event is on free-to-air telly and awards all the points.