Todt explains why teams were denied option to bring back 2015 qualifying

2016 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Jean Todt has explained why Formula One teams were not given the choice of voting for a return to the qualifying system used in 2015.

A meeting of the team principals in Australia resulted in a unanimous decision to reject the new elimination qualifying format in favour of the system used last year. However the teams were only subsequently given the choice of keeping the elimination system in its original or a modified form.

Speaking to Channel 4 before today’s qualifying session, Todt explained why he resisted what he felt would have been a knee-jerk reaction.

“In Formula One, which is a fascinating world, which is a pinnacle, there is a lot of over-reaction. So it has been unanimously agreed before the start of the championship to introduce a new qualifying which happened during the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix.”

“And it was some mixed outcome. And you know when something is newly introduced you need to learn how to optimise qualifying and the new regulations.”

“So Q1, Q2 there were some interesting outcomes from drivers, from teams, from media, from fans. And where it was unanimous disagreement was about Q3. So we made some proposals about Q3 and the final proposal was to have Q1 and Q2 with only some changes on the timing, and to have Q3 reversed to the way it was in 2015.”

“And to obtain this result to be introduced today in Bahrain you need the unanimous agreement. Unfortunately we didn’t have it, so that’s why it has been decided to stay with the current 2016 qualifying.

Further discussions about the format are due to take place, said Todt. “We will meet tomorrow at midday with the teams, with the Commercial Rights Holder, with the FIA, to see [in] the light of the second qualifying today, what is the best for Formula One from China on.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    89 comments on “Todt explains why teams were denied option to bring back 2015 qualifying”

    1. Strange he says he wanted to avoid a knee jerk reaction when the change to qualifying was somewhat knee jerk to start with.

      1. EXACTLY

      2. But Todt said the format was put to a vote and it was unanimous. My guess is those voting included team principals.
        Two weeks ago we had Hamilton saying the Mercedes engineers had predicted there would be long periods of no cars on the track during qualifying, and this turned out to be so. Yet it appears this information wasn’t conveyed to those voting. I guess this item must have been at the bottom of the agenda and no one thought it was important.

        1. Team principals voted on it to stop Bernie pushing ahead with his other, even worse ideas, not because they actually want it @drycrust

          1. @strontium The only question is is Todt’s claim correct? I suspect it is. He says this qualifying format was put to a vote before the season started and all at that meeting agreed that it was going to be used for this season. Were Team Principals or there representatives there? My guess is they were, so I’m guessing they didn’t appreciate there would be long periods with no cars on the track. Why else would it have been unanimously carried?
            If, as you say, the Team Principals were at that meeting, and they were warned by their own team advisers that this would happen, and yet they voted for this format, then they have only they only have themselves to blame for now having to backtrack on their previous vote.
            I just can’t imagine all the Team Principals all agreeing on this qualifying format simply because they fear Mr Ecclestone wants to do some other things. They all know that Mr Ecclestone far better than I do, but even I appreciate that if he has some ideas then voting for this Qualifying format simply to take his mind off those ideas wouldn’t work.

            1. Wasn’t it also a choice between two evils when they voted unanimously preseason? Thought they had a choice between the current one and reverse grid.

            2. They were given 2 options;
              a) The current 2016 qualifying format as it is now, or
              b) Keeping the 2015 qualifying format, but reversing the order of the top 8.
              They choose “a”, because it was the least worse of the 2 options. They were not given the option to keep the 2015 qualifying format unchanged.

        2. The whole story, as I understand it, is that Bernie said “Hey, let’s scramble the grid on Sundays, to produce more exciting racing!”, and his two ideas were to reverse the top 10 (stupid) or penalty time for being successful (the better you are in the championship, the worse your qualifying is).

          The FIA offered instead, the current “elimination” style format. The team bosses, realizing Q3 would be a farce, came back with a counter proposal of elimination style for Q1/Q2, and “knockout” (2015) style for Q3.

          So the FIA put up the current elimination style as the option (totally ignoring the teams’ compromise solution). The teams, not wishing to appear to be obstructionist jerks, and (entirely probably) understanding how hard this was going to fail, said “OK, shoot yourself”. The FIA heard “suit yourself”, and sent the proposal to the WMC.

          Melbourne happened, all the team principals and Charlie met, and said, unanimously (which by itself is bordering on a religious miracle), “dump it, go back to 2015 knockout format”. The FIA not wishing to upset their Great Crony Bernie E., said “OK!” and sent around the copy of the team’s original compromise proposal (elimination Q1/Q2, knockout Q3). They were originally intending to claim they sent the wrong fax, since faxes went out of fashion about the same time active suspension did.

          The teams said “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?! That’s not what we agreed on!” and several (between 2 and 4) disagreed, and McLaren and Red Bull definitely didn’t vote.

          Without unanimous approval, no change happens, qualifying continues to suck.

          Meanwhile the windbags that we all call “racing drivers” all wrote a letter to the internet, and said the FIA and Bernie need to stop following guidelines laid down by Machiavelli in the 15th century, seeing as how Leonardo da Vinci’s design for an F1 car used traction control and DRS on the front wing.

          No matter how hard I try, I just can’t stay serious talking about this massively self-destructive body that is the F1 rule-making process.

      3. I’ve just stopped watching qualifying, full stop.

        1. Yeah, it sort makes no sense now. In the old system there was always the suspense and anticipation. Now its dead staring at a count down with names with PIT behind them for the last minutes..

      4. This. So very this.

    2. So, after having a farce instead of enjoyment of Qualifying for the second race running, can we now accept that the kneejerk that gave us this format in the first place was stupid and revert to what WAS fun (sometimes the best part of the weekend) and did work?

    3. Can someone please explain what was wrong with the qualifying system last year?

      1. SaturnVF1 (@doublestuffpenguin)
        3rd April 2016, 4:00

        Only Bernie.

      2. The 30min+ of deadtime is whats wrong with last years qualifying.

    4. Sorry Jean, your excuse doesn’t wash. The qualifying was obviously flawed in all three qualifyings, to the extent that it would not be salvageable. The alternate proposal was never going to fix it, as the teams unanimously informed you.

      Next time, try a better excuse.

      1. There should not be a next time.
        The people who’ve started this keep throwing in bad ideas.. Their only connection to F1 is it creating money for them.
        We need the power to move to the ones who put the most effort in. The teams. Not the investors.

    5. He does not explain at all why the teams were denied the option to bring back 2015 qualifying.

      “So Q1, Q2 there were some interesting outcomes from drivers, from teams, from media, from fans. And where it was unanimous disagreement was about Q3.”

      This is a flat-out lie. Completely incomprehensible. The unanimous agreement was about all sessions and to completely revert to 2015 qualifying for all sessions. This better not be taken with a straight face and debated seriously be anyone. This is complete fabrication of events.

      1. lets go back to the beginning,
        Berne advised he wanted to mix up the Grid,
        Option 1 first car across the line would have to carry extra ballast next Race, how much i have no idea,
        Option 2 first 8 or so cars from qualifying would have to go to the back of the pack,

        that was it, you and i know that would have ruined F1, that is what they had to vote on,
        so the teams come up with a counter option which we have now, yes still not good.
        now the good of the two evils are still sitting there as a threat, so instead of a knee jerk reaction before going back and having Bernes push his ideas, the teams need to sort it, or Bernie will win and everyone loses.

        1. Regardless the original issue is not what Todt is talking about here. Todt is saying very explicitly that some teams were happy with Q1 and Q2 in Melbourne and there was no unanimous agreement to return to 2015 rules for all 3 sessions. But that is a complete falsehood, all teams unanimously agreed to return to 2015 qualifying for all 3 sessions in a vote on Sunday in Melbourne, which was then overturned for no good reason at all.

    6. I’d love to know WHY they are pushing so hard for this? WHY? what’s the reason?

      I just don’t understand it. I get that they want to replace Monza with Las Vegas. I get it, even if it’d be crazy, but I get it: money is the reason. And marketing or whatever, a Las Vegas race would mean a lot of money for a lot of people. I also get the move to pay TV, or double points at a certain GP: again, money. Even if I hate it, I GET it. There’s a reason, valid or not.

      But what are they trying to get pushing so hard for this? It doesn’t improve the show, it’s hated by everyone, you get less TV time for the sponsors, less action on track for the race organizers, and all the bad reactions.

      WHAT-IS-THE-POINT?!?

      1. Don’t know if youtube links are allowed, but I think this sums it up so perfectly it should be allowed– Heck, the governor even looks a bit like Todt!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTmfwklFM-M

        (Blazing Saddles: “We’ve got to protect our phony baloney jobs!”)

        1. That was a hilarious one !!

      2. I feel you, bro.

        The reason is, as I remember, to shuffle up the grid. To make it less sure that we get an all Mercedes front row. What happens is that this years midfield is so close, the pressure of this qualifying systems made Perez drop out in Q1. As happened to Kyvat in Melbourne.

        But still the Mercs have this amount of failure-margin that they can make a minor error and retry the following lap, like Lewis did.

      3. In order for the people in charge to justify their high wages, they have to come up with some nonsense every year. They know that whatever they do will not cause a dip in earnings because the die-fans will always swallow whatever BS they churn out. Bernie is the master. He calls F1 rubbish continually… yet people still keep on giving him money. Expect this foolishness to continue until the money starts to dry up.

      4. @fer-no65 looks like the GP promoters asked Bernie to do something about qualifying to shuffle up the grid.

    7. I think perhaps new leadership is needed in FIA.

      1. knoxploration
        2nd April 2016, 18:41

        I think perhaps human beings need oxygen to survive.

        Perhaps. *rolls eyes*

      2. Didn’t realise we currently had any leadership. I thought what we have is, at best, mismanagement. A manager isn’t necessarily a leader.
        One of the classic failures of management is an inability to own up to mistakes. It’s a barrier to change or innovation and a sign of a weak and insecure leader. Sigh.

        1. This is a good example of why strategic group is better than a single leader with his paranoid ideas.

    8. Neil (@neilosjames)
      2nd April 2016, 18:39

      Or he could have just said “Because Bernie wouldn’t let me” and saved over a hundred words, lots of pixels on computer screens and maybe even a bit of newsprint.

      1. @neilosjames I don’t think it’d save any LCD pixels though.

        OLED pixels, maybe :)

        1. Actually no, it wouldn’t save OLED pixels.

    9. knoxploration
      2nd April 2016, 18:39

      A more truthful response from Todt would be that providing the option he knew would be agreed upon by the teams and the fans did not match his own personal agenda. I wouldn’t expect the little weasel to actually admit that though, as he is a thoroughly unlikable man in person. And yes I have met him.

      1. Oh, in what circumstances have you met him?

    10. We were denied a sensible knee-jerk reaction to a completely unjustifiable knee-jerk reaction to a complete mess. Todt really needed to step up to the plate and deliver here, and he has failed so drastically that it is almost funny. But we still have this stupid qualifying system, so it isn’t funny.

    11. Hopefully the teams will make the management see sense tomorrow. Toto Wolff has I understand, already called today’s qualifying ‘terrible’.

      1. Hopefully the teams will call for Todt’s resignation.

        1. And Bernie’s

    12. Jean Todt should be fired on the spot.
      He does not understand F1 and our age (however impossible it sounds).

    13. Why the teams were denied the option?

      “Je suis le roi.”

      1. The best decision, is my decision…

        All over again. Hopefully some insightful footage from these meetings surfaces in 30 years for us all to shake our heads at.

    14. Another thought. FIFA are crooked but at least they can run a major event properly. F1’s management are crooked and incompetent. They are making a laughing stock of the sport.

      1. A big difference from football is that teams can sack their managers if things go wrong. Todt and eccles seem fixed for life.

        Bernie has now compared F1to a Rolling Stones’ concert without Jagger. Maybe he thinks attack is the best form of defence.

        The drivers and other team members are passionate about the sport, he insults them. The drivers could go on strike unless BE resigns. (I don’t know how realistic that actually is.)

        I enjoyed C4’s presentation. Any chance to avoid Murdoch, thief of sports.

        1. You forget that Bernie also called some of the drivers wind bags too…

    15. “So Q1, Q2 there were some interesting outcomes from drivers, from teams, from media, from fans. And where it was unanimous disagreement was about Q3. So we made some proposals about Q3 and the final proposal was to have Q1 and Q2 with only some changes on the timing, and to have Q3 reversed to the way it was in 2015.”

      Umm, nope..

    16. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      2nd April 2016, 18:58

      I don’t see an explanation, I see a sporting body and a president so preoccupied with their political perception that they cannot admit a) they have lost regulatory control and b) that they advocated an idea so brazenly destined to fail.

      Todt’s suggestion that there were some “interesting outcomes” to Q1 and Q2 in Melbourne is indicative of the central theme of his presidency: that he has no knowledge and interest in who motorsport fans are. In Formula E he thinks fans are switching on out of interest in sustainable technology. In F1 he clearly thinks fans are contented by passively gawping at aerodynamic processions and oil money racetracks. Motorsport fans are primarily motivated by one thing: competitive racing.

      As with any political malaise, there is a dangerous temptation to personify, but I am willing to make exceptions for the corporate and medieval ideals of Jean and Bernie…

      1. @william-brierty Which would be too much personifying considering CVC, etc?

        1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
          2nd April 2016, 19:48

          @davidnotcoulthard – Not really, no. CVC have been staggeringly passive as F1’s primary shareholders. Donald McKenzie is, in theory, the most powerful man in F1, given that he represents the source of the near totality of FOM’s cash stream. So how often do we see him attend races, or even make public statements about F1? In reality, Bernie has been CVC’s sole vessel of agency, and there is little evidence to suggest that CVC are behind any of the ideas that Bernie propounds.

          Seemingly CVC has historically advocated a single, simplistic notion: that their great investment is served best in the expertise of Bernie Ecclestone. Unfortunately, Bernie probably has been very effective at protecting CVC’s equity, but is doing so at the cost of the smaller teams, the fans and historic venues. Hopefully soon CVC will see past their slice of the pie, and see a sport in crisis, and an elderly, little Nero brazenly fiddling…

          1. @william-brierty

            So how often do we see him attend races, or even make public statements about F1?

            But we’ve got no idea about the non-public statements he makes to Bernie……..

            AFAIK for all we know Bernie might be the head of a puppet government.

            1. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
              2nd April 2016, 21:40

              @davidnotcoulthard – As long as Bernie is effective in getting CVC their equity, which he is, why should an investment bureau like CVC (who are rumoured to be looking to sell their shares) care about Bernie’s political agenda?

            2. @william-brierty Well, maybe CVC knew a more effective way of getting themselves their equity and forced Bernie into said way?

          2. They will replace him when they realize how quickly the entire pie is shrinking.

          3. @william-brierty, F1 is not a sport to CVC but a brand, and brands are milked dry before being foisted onto a gullible public (IPO) or investor based on the historical profits without disclosing that those profits came at the cost of sustainability and goodwill.

    17. Brundle on F1 governance: “together they couldn’t run a bathtub”.

    18. Seems like everyone high up in F1 specialises in saying lots but absolutely nothing at the same time

      1. That shows just how political it is.

    19. Mustavo Gaia
      2nd April 2016, 19:48

      F1: the pinnaple of motorsport.

    20. Adam (@rocketpanda)
      2nd April 2016, 20:18

      What’s best for F1 is to go back to the old qualifying format. The new system is a good idea but terribly flawed – if they go away and think on it for a while it might work out for the best but in the meantime it’s best to go back to what worked.

      That isn’t a knee-jerk reaction, that’s an intelligent solution to fix something that didn’t work.

      The fact he can’t see that or is unwilling to consider it is pretty indicative of how poorly managed the sport is becoming.

      1. How can it be both a good idea *and* terribly flawed?

        A good idea is, by nature, not flawed. That is what makes it good.

        The new system was a bad idea that is fundamentally unworkable. It’s not like there are even good and bad points to weigh up… There’s no pros and cons to consider. There is *nothing* good about this system.

        1. Adam (@rocketpanda)
          3rd April 2016, 14:29

          More in the sense the ‘elimination’ concept is pretty good. Part of the shootout for pole is tension, and knowing the driver has to make this lap work or it’s all over is a good concept in principle – but as you say, in this format it’s unworkable. For instance letting the driver finish the lap they are on might improve it slightly, but it’s still not going to be as good as the old system. I mean there’s a good idea somewhere in the concept, but this isn’t it.

    21. Todt must be won of the most ineffectual presidents ever. One farcical qualifying session is just about forgivable, though FIA were warned what would probably happen. But having to see the same again today? Terrible, F1 deserves to die on its knees with the ineptitude being shown all round by those responsible for running it.

    22. 2016 qualifying format is stupid. Old Man Bernie and his partners are killing Formula 1. Period.

    23. The irony in this is just baffling. It was a knee-jerk reaction to change it in the first place and now it would be a knee-jerk reaction to change it back? F1 is doing pretty good in spite of the people who manage it but I’m not sure how long that can last.

    24. He should have said: “Sorry, we can’t keep our fingers away, we have to change something, we always do. It’s therapy for old men who like to think they still are in touch with reality”.

    25. Everyone gets 4 sets of qualifying tyres each, 30-40mins session, they all get handed back at the end. Simple.
      (Divide that into Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 10mins mini-sessions if you wish).

      The FIA then hands back a set of these qualifying tyres to the top 5 and says, “these are your race start tyres.”

      They’ll be in the pits in 2 handful’s of laps, dropping them back into the pack, then let the chips fall where they may.

    26. BritishHareWays
      2nd April 2016, 22:25

      So. I kind of liked it. I got to see all of the cars. There were upsets and mistakes. All the sponsors got air time rather than watching a Mercedes for 50% of the time.

      It’s not the same. I think they should be allowed an unlimited tire quota and start on whatever tires they like. The clock could be 60seconds, rather than 90. Forget Q1,Q2 and Q3.. just Q. Get on with it.

    27. Jim Cran (@)
      2nd April 2016, 23:20

      I turned off the Australian quals after the 2nd 90 second elimination in Q1 was called, the new format is pitiful. The drivers basically don’t have a chance to run another lap to improve their speed / standing. I thought the FIA had opened their eyes and corrected their mistake. When I saw no changes had been made as the Bahrain quals started, I turned them off without hesitation. I’m about to write off F1 from my automobile competition list.

    28. I watched the first live qualifying of the year today. Totally incomprehensible. I hadn’t a clue what was happening. I’ll watch again when they return to a system that makes sense.

    29. The ONE time that F1 needs a knee-jerk reaction, they say “woah, let’s not be so hasty about this”.

      1. Lee Porcelli
        3rd April 2016, 0:54

        Just watched Bahrain qualifying. More embarrassing then Melbourne. Todt not having last year’s option on the table to vote on is woeful. A really good knee jerk reaction would be for him to go.If he worked in any other organization he would be shown the door.

    30. Is there nobody waiting in the wings at the FIA looking to challenge Jean Todt’s presidency? It seems like now would be the perfect time for such a person to make his move.

    31. ColdFly F1 (@)
      3rd April 2016, 2:56

      Bernie’s stupidity can be explained away by ‘chasing the short term money’, but I have no idea how Todt can get away with his.

      1. IMO Todt most likely has a clear plan @coldfly and it’s to get rid of Bernie.

        We can only guess what the teams are saying to Todt about pay-TV, but they must be incandescent. The big teams are all in F1 for reach, after all. Not the few subscribers but the many. REACH. That’s why Bernie always said F1 would be free to air.

        And now with the qualy fiasco already Bernie’s been lured into dissing the drivers, who are the beloved figureheads of the sport. Todt is untouchable with the FIA voting structure, so the worse the qualifying insanity gets, the better. It’s Bernie’s position that will come under threat. CVC are trying to sell at a profit, in the middle of all this, that’s why he took the Sky money, so they really don’t need this F1-is-doomed story that Todt is merrily helping along.

      2. Okay you can just delete this, I carelessly used an inappropriate word, fixed with a new post

    32. I kept saying lat year that the only part of the F1 weekend that is interesting was the Qualifying. I feel terrible that I jinxed it now. !!!

      Regarding comments about Social Media from Mr. Todt, I think the fundamental fact that he should understand is that Social Media is NOT some kind of weird platform where some crazy wacko’s keep making noise about irrelevant stuff. Social media is a part of the process of democratization of the media where people have easy and straight through channels of expressing their opinions. The media used to be unidirectional largely where feedback and opinions of some important people counted and the fans were largely considered as spectators on the track along with some TV audience. Today fans are connected directly with the drivers through these channels.

      The fact that FIA and Bernie can do whatever they want and get away with it by belittling the social media shows the amount of disrespect they show towards the sport and its fans.

      Yesterday’s qualifying was just a wash out. The much talked about thriller of Q2 by Todt was a joke. Within the first 4 minutes all the cars were back in the pits except for the thriller from Nico Hulk. Overall in the 1 hour of qualifying around 30 minutes (50% of the time) the track was empty. More so in Q2 and Q3 where it was around 60% – 70%. Thanks to the faulty lights at the pit exit , we were excited to see the stationary Ferrari of Kimi for a almost a minute. Fans dont come down to watch the empty tracks.

      I really don’t understand what Todt , Bernie and the gods who run this show are thinking when they are doing this. My only answer to this could be a far fetched conspiracy theory where Bernie and Co are trying to make F1 unpopular for some business reasons known to them to achieve some means. Otherwise it is just a slam dunk to confirm that this format is working. I am not sure exactly what they are waiting for to prove that this is not working. There was nothing wrong with the previous format. I believe Horner and Dennis were right in vetoing the patchwork proposed because even Q2 was a washout.

      Bernie & Todt must beware that fans who pay a decent amount to come down to watch the show on the track will not put up with this. Things could soon turn nasty in some of the less secure tracks. At least fans watching the TV can turn it off out of frustration !!!!

    33. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      3rd April 2016, 5:10

      I agree that knee-jerk reactions need to be avoided, but this system is so clearly wrong that it needs to be scrapped ASAP.

    34. I love how he keeps insisting that the team bosses unanimously agreed to the current format. Like it was something they wanted.
      It is like a robber putting a gun to your head and giving you the choice of getting shot or giving him your wallet. While you technically ‘gave’ him your wallet, he didn’t really leave you much of a choice.

    35. What I don’t understand is why Todt stays quiet for years when the rules (his domain) are obviously hurting basic sporting principles of the championship with severe and unfair development stops, then when it comes to jazzing up the show (not his domain) with a small tweak to qualy, then he finally emerges with a crowbar?

    36. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
      3rd April 2016, 8:12

      With the reactions from people on Twitter about the Bahrain qualifying, there’s no Formula One. The qualifying was like seeing all drivers doing only a single flying lap and waiting till the session’s over.

      I’m on a hype to see the old qualifying format return. Or, if they won’t drop the new qualifying format, why not having Q3 reversed, as Todt said? Nah, I guess negative reactions will burst out, and this qualifying format gets dropped for good! :D

    37. With all that’s happening at the moment, it would seem that some people are deliberately trying to reduce the value of F1, this cannot possibly be Bernie’s aim as at some point they will sell F1 on to a new owner and will need to extract the maximum possible price, so I can only conclude that Bernie is so out of touch with the real world (and the fans) that he doesn’t actually realise what he’s doing when he brings up these ridiculous ideas. I am not happy about F! going exclusively to Sky either, but the UK audience is only one country among many, so I don’t suppose they care about less UK viewers particularly (which is what happens when you put a sport behind a paywall). Jean Todt appears to not want to be bullied by the teams and therefore rather than concede that a mistake was made, he comes out with some stupid reasons for not fixing the mistake properly, meaning that he is not working for the good of the sport but is only seeking to stamp his authority, the end result being that he just looks like an idiot (others apart from JT are I’m sure responsible for this too), but this just shows how out of touch these people are. Furthermore, of all the things that do need fixing in F1, qualifying was not one of them!

    38. What I like about the new format, is that we get to see the guys who get eliminated on screen. So this means some screen time for the drivers of Manor, Renault and Haas and a greater focus on their results.

      1. Well, that part is something FOM could easily do for the 2015 Q1 qualification session, and Q2, too @ringridder; Arguably, they really should have been doing that from the start, but just like in races, FOM just doesn’t show us the back of the midfield or the back, unless they are about to be lapped, or something bad happens.

    39. The new format is basically a fight between a couple of the slowest drivers.
      As a faster driver, you’re not going to drive in Qx if you’ve got a descent time after your first couple of laps. And even if you do it for the sponsors/fans, you wouldn’t even be noticed on camera because they are all focussed on the ‘slow’ guys.
      Why did anyone think this was a good idea…
      People who thought of this should be put in a pillory at the end of the pitlane.

    40. “In Formula One, which is a fascinating world, which is a pinnacle, there is a lot of over-reaction. So it has been unanimously agreed before the start of the championship to introduce a new qualifying which happened during the weekend of the Australian Grand Prix.”

      “which is a pinnacle” of what exactly?

      I didn’t even bother watching the qualifying this race, the only thing F1 is the pinnacle of any-more is stupidity, the best thing for armchair fans to do is to just watch the highlights on a free channel & if the prawn cocktail fans want to pay to go to a race then let them do it, my interest has dropped to an all time low & neither the FIA, FOM, Teams or Drivers are doing anything to change this, the only person to go slightly against the grain is Lewis Hamilton with his Snapchat photos, it is going to take a hell of a lot to get me back fully engaged.

      It’s time for action now now words.

    41. We need the 2015’s qualifying system + more tires for the weekend especially for qualifying!!
      Then drivers and teams have the possibilities (in time and tires) to reach faster and faster laps.

    42. Jean Todt-the worst ever FIA president!

      Just go Jean and let us forget about your shambolic presidency. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough to make all your previous career irrelevant.

      Somebody should start a petition to oust him from the office

    43. I’ve got a revolutionary idea how to “mix-up” the grids like the powers that be so desperately apparently want to achieve.
      Why not have qualifying on Saturday afternoon in a free one hour session with no BS restrictions (or the 2015 three session format that worked so well for 6 years).
      Then let them set the car up for the race Saturday night & give them an hour on track on Sunday morning to refine it.
      This would then let the teams with good race cars come through the field, & be able to pass those teams with better qualifying cars.
      Oh wait……..that’s what it USED to be like.
      Let the teams change the cars after qualifying again Bernie!!!!!

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