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Teams to consider 'aggregate' qualifying format

Published on 04 Apr 2016 08:17
6
By: Rob Veenstra

F1 bosses have been told to mull over an all-new 'aggregate' format for qualifying, after reverting to the 2015 system was ruled out by the sport's authorities on Sunday. "It's crazy," one source at the meeting told the Telegraph newspaper, as it emerged that simply abandoning the failed 'musical chairs' experiment was no longer an option.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had said on Saturday that anyone who blocks a resolution to the farcical saga should be "crucified". But now he says: "They said that 2015 (qualifying) is not acceptable for them as it was not good enough and we have to accept it." So the bosses' task now is to assess an all-new format before they meet again on Thursday.

FIA president Jean Todt said as he emerged from Sunday's meeting in Bahrain that the F1 world will need to be "patient" until the details emerge next week. But authoritative sources, including Germany's Auto Motor und Sport and British television Sky, report that the new system will involve drivers' 2 best times being aggregated as they progress through the three segments of qualifying.

Williams deputy Claire Williams is quoted by the Independent as saying engineers are assessing whether it can be introduced in Shanghai. But Auto Motor und Sport has calculated that, if the system had been in place in Bahrain, it would be Nico Rosberg on pole rather than Lewis Hamilton, even though the latter's decisive lap has been widely hailed.

Asked if aggregate times are a kick in the stomach for F1 purists, Wolff said: "I think the kick is even lower than that." Williams, meanwhile, said of the newly-proposed idea: "It is quite a well thought through proposal that the FIA have come up with and hopefully it will be a solution that will work for everybody, and that will be be easy for our fans to understand." (GMM)

F1 News Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg Susie Wolff Mercedes Williams

Replies (6)

mclarenfan1968

Posts: 1,027
This might actually do the trick to have cars out on track because it will force people to be at their best at all times and if they make big mistakes the harder it gets to claw back at the aggregate. Yeah definitely the purists will say this is an artificial way to spice things up but in-order to force action, that too genuine action not people merely running on track for the sake of it, this is one way to do it. One could argue it is not about pulling that great at one time and do mediocre laps at all other times, it is about being consistently fast out there, seems like a unforgiving way of saying you are not fast if you cant do it all the time.

I can see why Mercedes will be no fan of this, they cant afford to run their Viagra, oops pardon my mistake I didn't get the Merc PR memo on that one, they cant afford to have their engine modes up all the time as it is very taxing on their engines, this means their little goodie bag of tricks are getting a big nerf right away. This helps bring the pack closer together and we all know how the merc pop divas crack under constant pressure.

This is not purist F1 that I know of but something must be done to force cars on track and make them go for it every time they are out there. This just reminded me of another matter, this means most of the softest available tyres will be eaten up in the first two sessions alone leaving slower tyres for the last segment for most of the runners bar the absolute fastest teams like maybe Merc and Ferrari, even they might not feel entirely comfortable to bet on harder tyres to take them through to Q2 if they don't use the softest tyres in Q1 for certain tracks.

This getting voted through seems highly unlikely coz too many selfish interests are at stake here unless maybe tyre allocation numbers also change with it.
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- Apr 4 2016 - 11:38
denis1304

Posts: 284
let them drive 1 lap in reverse....
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- Apr 4 2016 - 17:33
- mclarenfan1968
  
  Posts: 1,027
  LOL
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  Apr 4 2016 - 18:48
khasmir

Posts: 893
Yep, definitely lower than the stomach...
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- Apr 4 2016 - 18:56
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Why on earth isnt the 2015 format good enough? Admit it Eccie-dear: you cannot take a defeat, can you? ;P

Im not sure the aggregate will be much better, but it sounds interesting.
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- Apr 4 2016 - 22:32
Vet5

Posts: 225
Just done the Sky Sports F1 vote for the qualifying format and people have actually voted for the Australia and the Aggregate format! Come on people, the qualifying didn't even need fixed in the 1st place! Fix the races so they are more close with a lot more overtaking involved, remove DRS, make the cars like they were in the early 2000's (Because we all know it will never go back to the 70's & 80's style we all love)
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- Apr 5 2016 - 13:33