02/05/2019
NEWS STORY
Plans to change the qualifying session and divide it into four phases, as opposed to the current three, from next year, have been dropped.
The provisional technical and sporting regulations have been published and the qualifying format remains the same as it is now.
The sport's powers-that-be, in their infinite wisdom, believed that a four phase session which sees four cars eliminated at the end of Q1, Q2 and Q3, leaving 8 to contest Q4, would improve the spectacle, claiming that it would mean more on-track time and increase the odds of the big guns making a mistake and thereby spicing up the grid.
In a further twist, rather than starting the race on the same set of tyres they used to set their fastest time in Q2, as at present, the leading eight drivers on the grid would use the same-spec tyres used in Q4.
However, other than getting the thumbs down from fans, who took the 'if it aint broke don't fix it' stance, the teams argued that, based on computer simulations, that in a bid to save tyres there would be less running, with Q4 becoming an anti-climax and the leading three teams enjoying even more of an advantage than they do at present.
Following the publication of the 2020 rules, it would need the unanimous support of all ten teams - a rarity in F1 - for the system to be changed.
Download the 2020 Technical Regulations (Pdf)
Download the 2020 Sporting Regulations (Pdf)