After seeing the new elimination-style qualifying system in action for the first time at the Australian Grand Prix, opinions about the new system were all but positive. That being said, the F1 team bosses have agreed to dump the new system after a single race.
Teams met with the FIA on Sunday morning in Australia, where they agreed unanimously that the system should be abandoned before they arrive in Bahrain. This means that the old system that we saw in 2015 would be restored for the rest of the season, as the new system didn’t have the effect that they had planned.
Overall, the qualifying system was not impressive at all. The new system as intended to force the cars to spend more time on the track and shuffle the grid, but it did the opposite. The system failed to apply major changes to the results, with the exception of Daniil Kvyat. At the top – where they really want to shuffle the results – it was the same major players at the top for all three qualifying sessions, virtually from the start. There was a limit of action on the track, as the leaders parked into the garage to save tyres and many of the other drivers gave up and parked into the garage.
It was boring for fans, as it was far too confusing to follow from the grand stands and there were no cars on the track. At the end of the third qualifying sessions, the cars had retired to the garage with roughly four minutes remaining in the qualifying session.
It was an interesting thing to try, but it didn’t work. There is really nothing wrong with the old qualifying system and changing the qualifying system will not change the results in the way that the FIA thinks it will. There are certain aspects of the new system that are interesting, but as a whole, it is not worth wasting an entire season to iron out all of the issues.
The agreement to remove the new qualifying system still requires the approval of the F1 Commission and Strategy Group, after which it will be forwarded to the World Motor Sport Council. These formal steps are expected to pass without and issues and we are expected to see the old qualifying system at the next round of the championship in Bahrain.
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