Qualifying still a moot point

As already reported on autosport.com, the new format will drop the single lap system and all drivers will be on the circuit together in two 25-minute sessions with a 10-minute break between. They will be permitted to do six laps in each session and their quickest lap times from each session will be aggregated to arrive at a grid time. They will have four sets of tyres available and the cars will run on empty tanks, with race fuel added afterwards, prior to parc ferme.

It will effectively mean a return to the system that existed in 2002, except with two sessions solving the old problem of nobody venturing out in the opening 20 minutes or so until the track rubbered in, leaving TV commentators to talk about an empty track.

The positives for F1 are that qualifying should now be more exciting, with a return to the frantic closing stages of each session, controversy over on-track incidents, etcetera.

But, there are negatives too. The smaller teams will lose much needed television exposure simply because they will not figure in the outright qualifying battle and, as BAR boss David Richards pointed out, one of the main reasons that the system was changed was to add some variety to the race grids, which will now be lost.

"We will be back to the fastest car starting at the front and so on all the way down the grid and it seems inevitable that the races will be duller," Richards said at Indianapolis. "In similar situations with products, you do some market research and you consult the customer. So perhaps in this instance the best way forward might have been to come up with three or four options and then go out and see what the TV directors and production crews want to make it work for them.

"But, Bernie put it forward and he's the promoter, the commercial rights holder, so he got my vote on that basis. But I don't think it's the right thing to do, personally."

Given a level playing field, Richards' observations about the quickest man starting at the front are unquestionable, but Michelin's one-lap performance advantage still has the potential to occasionally upset Ferrari's dominance (see Insight).