We've all had a few months to ponder the new knockout qualifying format, but none of us will really know how it will pan out until Bahrain. Even that first Saturday of the season might not tell the full story, and it could take two or three races before we really know how it works.
There's been a lot of talk about it being too complicated, but the basic system of elimination could not be any simpler for us observers: the slower guys get weeded out, and then the top 10 just go as fast as they can at the end.
But for the participants it presents a huge challenge, and the drivers and teams will be walking a tightrope every weekend. There's absolutely no guarantee that the 10 quickest runners will make it safely through and take their rightful places at the front of the grid, and if anything there's even more chance of something oddball happening than under the one lap system.
New schedule