The whisper in F1 circles is that the FIA and FOM have taken notice of the criticism of the qualifying system used in Australia and Bahrain and that they have agreed that it is not a good idea to go on insisting on it, and have agreed to go back to the qualifying system used in 2015.
It is yet to be confirmed but this is very good news for the sport and one must give the two parties credit for realising that it was not the right time to go on pushing for what they wanted – and the sense to back down, rather than trying to fight a battle that they couldn’t really win. Further insistence on the qualifying system would have led to further criticism and ultimately to an erosion of confidence and credibility in the two organisations, with the teams being put into the spotlight as the good guys. As I understand it, Jean Todt convinced Bernie Ecclestone that it made no sense to go on fighting, if only because the whole purpose of the qualifying was to try to disrupt the starting grids to create better racing.
In fact the racing thus far this year has been extremely good, probably thanks to the decision to allow the teams to use three compounds rather than the previous two. It is still all rather complicated to explain to the fans, but at least the daft qualifying system will not be seen again in China, which will give the sport the opportunity to stop all the negative talk surrounding the sport and concentrate on showing the world that F1 is still a great show, and has important and useful technology for the world at large.
Let us hope that this leads to an upswing in F1’s fortunes.
joeblogsf1 
One would think with the current situation someone in that web is not hoping for a upswing in F1’s fortunes!
Great news!
Hallelujah! If they hadn’t sorted it out by China I was wondering if the teams could, between themselves, agree to not participate in Q3 as a protest, although I don’t know if the regs. would allow this?
I hope you’re right, but I’ll only 100% believe it when I see it on track!
To quote Martin Brundle: “Between them they could not run a bath”.
I’ll hold my breath until its official. We were told we were going back to the 2015 qual by most media pundits before the race in Australia and that didn’t turn out to be true.
Maybe Mr Todt discovered twitter
Allelujah!!!! Now all they have to do is reverse the exit of fans and sponsors alike, not to mention create financially sustainable teams and maybe all will be sweetness and light……..we can but live in hope. I’m not holding my breath.
That is good news indeed. Up until this year, I got a bigger rush out of watching quali than I did some of the races.
The rot is already setting in though. Have you seen that C4’s audience was down 1.5million. 3.5 to just 2 million at a time when there was not much else on, bar ITV4s excellent coverage of BTCC.
These fools are killing their audience.
And during the build-up to the first race from Brands there was a certain amount of pisstaking from Steve Rider and Alan Gow on the matters of TV deals and qualifying formats. Made me smile, that did.
Not too surprised that it may have been Todt’s instigation. Judging by his discomfort during his interview with Lee, he lacks Ecclestone’s ability to look a person directly in the eye whilst blatently lying to them.
Anyway, this qualifying stuff is comparatively minor compared to the subject on which he should be listening to the fans. Namely, the removal from the sport of three quarters of its UK viewing audience.
This is good news!
I just hope this won’t be used as a ‘favor’ to be called in in the future…
I think it will. Reverse grids in 2017 anyone?
On swallow doth not a summer make… but still, good news is nice to see.
“Let us hope that this leads to an upswing in F1’s fortunes.”
Methinks that can only be inevitable given the shambolic governance of the competition to date. Only the most incompetent mismanagement possible could drive F1 into further a more negative spiral than what it already finds itself in. An upswing is inevitable (its either that or oblivion).
I would hope the teams were able to select their tire compound choices with this change in mind? Or at the least, change their selections based on the “new” old Q format.
Common sense and social media affecting F1 politics? Blimey, and shiver me timbers!
Great news!
I am surprised though because I thought it was really a test of strength between Bernie and the manufacturers. I am willing to bet that something else was agreed or conceded elsewhere in return for normal qualifying.
That is a shame. The old system had become extremely boring with only a few minutes at the end of each session worth watching. I am sure the knockout system could have been made to work to provide an exciting improvement over the old system. Obviously the new system it failed to work as it is, but with changes I believe it could have been excellent
If it was down to me I would have continuous running for 40 minutes with cars being dropped at
8, 10,12,18,20,22,28,30,32 chequer at 40 removing another 3 and therefore leaving a top 10 shootout over 15 minutes
The extended gaps are for refuelling/tyre changes as required
At last !!
Well, well, if true, that is one of the few good accomplishments of Mr Todt in his spell as FIA president!
Glad to see logic and common sense prevailed in the end and we can go back to enjoying a season that is so far shaping up to be really good.
You can hardly call this an accomplishment of Jean Todt, for this he will have to have moved something forward. All he’s done is break a working system and now allow it to go back to working.
Carrots and sticks
I presume you mean “Carrots & Sticks” from the unanimous Manufacturers – as they seem to have called the shots on this one.
At last they see sense! As you say, they are to be credited for that at least.
It is heartening to see the teams galvanised in their opposition to FOM and FIA’s ridiculous plans to fix something that wasn’t broken in the first place. That cohesion is not something Bernard wanted to encourage methinks. Let’s hope all the competitors learn from this and see what can be achieved if they unify.
Come the revolution………..
Question?
What was wrong with the 2015 qualifying format?
Answer:
It was not terrible interesting to watch.
Last season I followed most qualifying sessions live on TV, but found myself doing other things (the dishes, vacuuming the house etc) most of the time. Only to glance over at the TV when the session timer reached 00:00.
Cars doing 15 minutes of mostly irrelevant laps and then every session is decided in a 1 minute time span around the chequered flag.
German RTL had already switched to commercials most of the time before the Manors even finished their last lap in Q1. It was that exciting.
I don’t suppose that I am the only BOF who follows your blog joe , but I am probably the longest serving follower of F1 being as I can still remember watching the cinema newsreel of silverstone with my parents in 1950 proudly wearing my first pair on ‘longs’
I think the expression love at first sight is not an exaggeration , suffice it to say that watching that event gave me an interest which has never waned
for many years actually seeing my heroes live was something I never dreamed of , no TV either and rarely a mention on the radio , so awaiting the arrival of Motor Sport on the doormat to read words of wisdom from DSJ was the highlight of my month
but little by little things improved and I was able to attend lesser events and see these magicians in action , driving in a multitude of classes , so I lived through the magic years of such as stirling moss [ I don’t suppose you ever saw him in action joe , a pity seeing you share an Alma Mater ]and jim clark [ people of a certain age will tell you that they can remember where they where when they heard JFK was dead …I can tell you when I heard about jimmy ] ; eventually official F1 races live followed …silverstone , brands hatch , monaco being particularly memorable to me …further afield being beyond my pocket as by then I had family responsibilities
so I think I can claim to have a fair experience of the progress of the sport and it’s management and mismanagement
what I really want to say is that I get infuriated by the whingers , the ….I want to see the drivers flat out all the time pirelli are rubbish ..brigade
there has always been much more to F1 than that ..I love it for not only the battles on track but the battles between the designers , the technicians , the psychology ; so one team does a better job than the rest ? get over it , it was ever thus , and what goes round comes round ..how longer since ferrari won the constructors championship?
as you say joe , racing is good so far this year and why is that ?
firstly the cars haven’t been bomb proof which always adds an edge , and pirelli have been given a better remit and managed to do an excellent job ,despite lack of proper testing ;so clearly they will be allowed to test properly for next year’s cars ……wait a minute , probably not ; in any case , chapeau pirelli
btw joe , on a technical point , many blogs allow you to preview you post before posting , it helps to correct errors for some reason ….any chance ?
To: Colin Grayson,
The same goes for me, entirely. At school, I nominated DSJ as our author for English Literature study! There was always a copy of MotorSport magazine in my desk. Later, as an apprentice, I rode my moped from Bristol to Aintree for the British Grand Prix in 1957 and, even wormed my way into the Vanwall pit during practice and saw Jean Behra’s great spin at the end of his true last gasp grid position lap.
I just hope that those governing Formula One see the sense in making some decent decisions in the near future.
Keep up the good work Joe, I used to enjoy your appearances on Australian TV. All the best,
Mr A. (Melbourne)
@colin: Amen! I’ve always compared F1 to chess at 180 mph. I enjoy that aspect of it.
Praise the Lord and Pass my Remote Control!
Praise the Lord and Pass Me My Remote Control!
Is there any real risk that F1 Commission or World Motor Sport Council would object to this?
They do what they are told
now that is what I call dead weight, being there to do ass they arte told.
Splendid! Now their tiresome battle for control of F1 will move on to another arena. I can’t wait to see what it will be. Curiously, listening to a Pat Symonds interview, he said reverse grids would be the one thing guaranteed to make the teams design cars that could follow in dirty air. Maybe Bernie wasn’t so crazy after all.
Its now confirmed – back to the system everyone wants. The gutter sites are claiming to have been informed by insiders that a team boycott of Q1 was discussed amongst the teams. As if that makes any logical sense at all except for the numbnuts making up stories
Jean Todt could see the writing on the wall that Bernie is just to old to get! It is really long over due for Bernie to retire, this is all the proof you need. Bernie had to yield when told you are on your own. Not one promoter came to his aid in the press. His bluff was going to get called. More power to the teams for the letter they sent.
Great news, but the fact that this situation ever occurred in the first place still fills me with dread for what the next crazy idea will be! At the end of the day how can you run what is classed as a sport where the main intention of the organisers seems to be stopping the best team from winning and making it innaccessible to a majority of the fans? I feel sorry for the fans, the drivers and the teams. I do not feel any pity for Todt, Ecclestone or CVC. Which, of course, won’t bother any of the latter in the slightest.
Great news regarding qualifying.
As for “F1…has important and useful technology for the world at large.” The sport is going to have to get on this message quickly if it wants to reap any benefits as to its technological superiority.
Perceptions can change fast. While F1 is technical virtuosity at the highest level (unbelievable engineering talent), the sport’s current hybrid technology could quickly look more like the dithering of comfortable, invested interests than advanced automotive solutions.
In a world where hundreds of thousands of people stood in long lines this past week (many overnight) for the privilege of placing $1,000 deposits on the next all-electric Tesla model, sight unseen, F1’s hybrid technology quickly starts to look dated. A Prius in a Tesla world.
With the FIA putting a technology fence around F1 with Formula E, whether unwittingly or by design, technology could actually be the downfall of F1. It looks all very Sun Tzu.
Todt can mostly ignore F1’s political machinations, which strangle it from dealing with anything in a strategic way, and let them lead it to obsolescence; inefficient in its use of energy at the machine and human level. Why fight to take back control of something that won’t seem anything like the most advanced form of motor racing in a few short years?
Formula E simply usurps F1 as motorsports most technologically advanced, relevant and aspirational form of racing…without ever having to get into the bloody unpleasantness that is F1(aside from the great racing we are seeing).
If you allowed youtube videos here, This comment would be replaced sarcastically with Kool & The Gangs’ song Celebration. I think that explains my feelings better than words could.
There is a solution to this start the race with the fastest drivers at the back. No need for qualifying just use the Championship standings for the grid positions you will get loads of overtaking and exciting racing
That is not the solution.
I don’t like that idea for the actual qualifying, but I do think adding a version of the 22 minute sprint race, with grid positions determined by inverting Championship positions – would be a really entertaining TV spectacle, plus a great test that would no doubt highlight the racing prowess of the very best like Hamilton and Alonso, make Rosberg look rather average, and give us an interesting measure of unproven youngsters like Bottas – who seems to get many pundits excited, but has yet to convince me he’ll become anything more than a worthy-yet-dull Herbert-type F1 journeyman.
However as a long-term fan and racing purist, I’d be cautious of involving precious points – so my idea has little by way of motivation. Nevertheless, it might be a perfect platform for certain current drivers who really have become bottlenecks blocking young talent, to show the skill that first got them noticed.
I don’t expect Kimi to do justice to the improved Ferrari car on Sundays this year, but he’ll continue to pick up slightly fewer points than any number of younger and cheaper drivers’ could, in that car. But in a short Saturday sprint, I could see him driving with balls and either crashing out or actually impressing like he did at McLaren!
I’m really happy the old quali system is back – for every Sunday last year, when the usual bores criticised the racing, you still couldn’t deny that the qualifying hour, and especially Q3, was guaranteed to be exciting, unpredictable and edge-of-your-seat-style entertaining racing!
Now we have to accommodate ad breaks for C4, it makes sense to split up the quali sessions in some commercial media-friendly way. The proposed ideas of reverse grid races (for quali) or aggregated timing systems, are not only undesirable due to the element of artifice introduced to the pinnacle of motorsport – but also would have inevitably been interrupted without natural spaces for adverts.
I agree that the new tyre rules have made matters interesting. I never found the new system difficult to comprehend, especially in the wider context of that element of race strategy. For anyone who did, I found a really good explanation on YouTube from the brilliant (though sadly missing from my TV screen) Will Buxton. He used some little chocolate bars to very good effect, making it crystal clear.
One new TV graphic this year is something I’ve always wondered why we never had it before. The tyre compound graphic now indicates whether the last set of tyres for each driver are brand new, or have been used previously.
It used to irritate me that commentators obviously knew during races and quali whether the tyres going on were fresh, scrub set or well used – but unless they mentioned it, the viewing public had no idea.
I wish I had something (eg phone app) that let me see at a glance what tyres each driver has left, and in what condition, at each stage during a race weekend. Given the system of barcodes used by Pirelli and the FIA to identify such, it shouldn’t be that difficult to offer fans accessible information on the subject. Otherwise we are at the mercy of DC & Ben Edwards, or Brundle & Shifty, who randomly choose to sometimes share their privileged information, but not often enough for my liking!
For me the move of FTA to C4 is not so bad with the adverts (though they still have more than Sky). What’s annoying is that the BBC were so good at broadcasting 21st century style – with multi-platform content. With the BBC I could watch my TV, have my laptop on a Red Button feed, with my iPad and phone using the website and app, to give me plenty of information all at once, during a race.
C4’s idea of innovation is putting pointless Twatter hashtags on the ad break bumpers, alongside some generic and irritating dubstep music. What’s worse is how poor their own website is, combined with the mediocre catch-up TV service, which has no restart functionality, and when shows are eventually put up they randomly place adverts in a frustratingly unpredictable way!