It was announced during the first pre-season test of the season that the sport of Formula One would adopt a new elimination-style qualifying system for the season. Although it was the plan to introduce the new system at the season opener in Australia, some technical issues have prevented that from happening.
Bernie Ecclestone has told the press that the new qualifying system will not be introduced until the Spanish Grand Prix, the fifth round of the season. This is because the official timing software used by the FIA will have to be rewritten to incorporate the complexity of the new qualifying rules. As a result, qualifying will remain the same as last season at the first four races of the season. This includes the Australian, Bahrain, Chinese and Russian Grand Prix.
The new qualifying format was developed in order to prevent teams from relaxing in the garage during qualifying and to try and tighten the competition on race day.
Teams will be given the first seven minutes of the first qualifying session to set lap times, after which, the slowest car will be eliminated from qualifying. After the first driver is eliminated, the next slowest car will be eliminated after one and a half minutes. The slowest drivers will continue to be eliminated every one and a half minutes, until seven drivers have been knocked out.
The remaining 15 drivers will advance to the second qualifying session and their previous lap times will be reset. Drivers will then be given six minutes to post lap times, after which the slowest of the 15 cars will be eliminated. Next, the slowest driver will be eliminated every minute and a half, until only eight drivers remain.
In the final qualifying session, the drivers that have advanced will be given five minutes to record some lap times. The slowest driver will be eliminated and that will repeat every minute and a half, as it did with the other sessions. This will continue until only one driver remains. This will be the pole sitter on race day.
Ecclestone has suggested many different ideas on how to shuffle the order of qualifying to make the race more exciting. However, Ecclestone has stressed that this format change was not his idea, telling the BCC: “I don’t want to touch the current qualifying, which I think is good”.
