The defending world champion Lewis Hamilton kicked off the new season with his 50th pole position at Melbourne, as the sport experimented with a new qualifying format for the first time since 2006.
In order to improve the show, new rules have been added so that the drivers will be under pressure to perform and more track action.
The elimination on each driver at every 90 seconds was a bid to mix-up the grid.
This created a rush to do fast lap times early on each session, and yet left insufficient times for slower runners to react to the threat of elimination.
Sure, there was a sense of excitement in Q1 and Q2, but the most important Q3 was an anti-climax.
In fact, the final qualifying segment was disastrous as the two Mercedes bothered to attempt second runs. Rival Ferrari just gave up after one run…
So the end result was Mercedes taking the front row thanks to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with challenger Sebastian Vettel third quickest.
That’s the same top three as last season’s qualifying without the new elimination format…
Hamilton led the way after the first runs and that time was already good enough for pole before he improved on his second attempt, thanks to team-mate Nico Rosberg falling short of the world champion’s earlier benchmark with his own final effort.
The remaining Q3 runners sat in their garages to watch themselves be eliminated from contention, and the pressure to get in and out of the pits in time for the Silver Arrows’ second runs meant there were no cars on track for the final two minutes of the session.
The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen locked out row two, but ended up well adrift of the Mercedes, despite being promisingly close in final practice.
Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen qualified an excellent fifth, narrowly ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams but over a second clear of Carlos Sainz Jr.
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top eight, just 0.007 seconds slower than Sainz.
The McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, and the two works Renaults of Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen, were the early victims in Q2 with none of the four bothering to attempt second runs.
Alonso ended up in P12, just under two tenths faster than Button, while rookie Palmer edged Magnussen out by 0.141 seconds.
Sainz managed to escape elimination, on the edge of being dropped out after his first flying lap, but Valtteri Bottas failed to improve before the clock ran out on his Williams so he ended up P11, behind Force India pair Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.
Both Manor drivers were sitting in their garages when Q1 elimination began, before Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean were the first drivers to be eliminated while still on-track, after running out of time while attempting to go faster on a second set of tyres.
Daniil Kvyat was the highest profile casualty, ending up P18 fastest in a car easily good enough for the top ten…
The Red Bull driver was seen walking through the pitlane as his elimination time came up.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr also ran out of time while on track, ending up P17.
That left Palmer battling Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson for the final Q2 spot.
Palmer vaulted up to P14, just ahead of Magnussen, with his final flying effort, while Ericsson locked up heavily at the penultimate corner so dropped to P16 and into elimination.
The new qualifying format was a complete joke. Confusing and unnecessary for the sake of the sport in an attempt to make it more exciting and unpredictable. In the end, the top drivers and teams qualified where they should be, rather than a mixed up grid.
The sport’s governing body needs to tweak this format to make it work but it was uncalled for. There are many issues with Formula 1 at the moment and qualifying is not one of them. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix!
Qualifying results, Melbourne:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m23.837s
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m24.197s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m24.675s
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m25.033s
5 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.434s
6 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m25.458s
7 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m25.582s
8 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m25.589s
9 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m25.753s
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m25.865s
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m25.961s
12 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 1m26.125s
13 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1m26.304s
14 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m27.601s
15 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m27.742s
16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.435s
17 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.958s
18 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m28.006s
19 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m28.322s
20 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1m29.606s
21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1m29.642s
22 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1m29.627s
F1 qualifying’s new quick-fire elimination format provided a highly intriguing session in Melbourne on Saturday, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton secured pole position for the 2016 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, three-tenths up on team mate Nico Rosberg.
It was the 50th pole of Hamilton’s F1 career, making him only the third man in history to reach the benchmark, along with Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
Bizarrely, under the new system, it was down to a two-way fight with over five minutes of Q3 remaining, with the slowest four drivers already eliminated, and with Ferrari choosing not to run further, having decided that Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen would be unable to improve on their times.
At that point those times put them second and fourth respectively and it needed a late second run from Rosberg to dislodge Vettel.
Max Verstappen took a superb fifth for Toro Rosso, followed by Williams’ Felipe Massa and the second Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz, with Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top eight.
Q2 accounted for the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, McLaren duo Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, and the Renaults of Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen.
In a frantic Q1 session, Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein had the dubious honour of being the first man eliminated under the new system. He was followed by team mate and fellow rookie Rio Haryanto, who faces a three-place grid drop for his FP3 pit-lane shunt.
Newcomers Haas got their timing wrong which resulted in Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean also getting an early bath, while Daniil Kvyat blamed poor tactics from Red Bull for his surprise exit, which followed that of Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.
The seemingly time-expired Jolyon Palmer was the last to escape into Q2, jumping from 17th to 14th despite the final 90s segment having ended, since the final runner is halted by the chequered flag, not by the countdown clock. That made Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson the last Q1 faller.
Source: Formula1.com
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel leads drivers’ criticism of the new qualifying revamp. News story taken from Autosport.com.
Formula 1 drivers have strongly criticised the new elimination qualifying format introduced for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The new knockout system involves drivers being eliminated at 90-second intervals during the second half of each qualifying segment.
While the opening parts of Q1 and Q2 were frantic, Q3 was a disappointment with only Mercedes choosing to do two runs and Lewis Hamilton confirmed on pole with several minutes of the session remaining.
Vettel was particularly scathing, saying F1’s bosses should not be surprised by the criticism because the drivers had already voiced their concerns that it would not work.
“I don’t see the point why everyone is surprised,” said Vettel. “We all said what is going to happen. It happened.
“We were told to wait and see. Now we saw and I don’t think it was very exciting.
“It was a bit crazy in the beginning with all the cars pushing and trying to do a lap before they get kicked out so managing traffic is busy but for no reason because the time is there in the session to do it.
“For the people in the grandstands, I don’t feel it is right way to go as there are no cars to watch.
“They want to see Lewis, Nico, Kimi whoever pushing to limit at the end of the session when the track is supposed to be at its best.
“I don’t think we need the criticism now, we had the criticism already but surely it is wrong way to go. That is what we said.”
Hamilton felt F1 was right to experiment but that it was now clear the format was wrong.
“Ultimately it is a good step that we tried something new but it’s trial and error,” he said. “Maybe not just go back to the old way.”
Vettel responded: “They have a certain responsibility as well, you can’t just try things that many of us criticise, us included.
“You can’t just turn around and say that was the wrong thing. We need to be sensible and do the right changes.”
Nico Rosberg favours the compromise proposal of using the old system for Q3 only.
“It’s good F1 tries [ideas] but we have to go back, for the last one [Q3] especially,” he said.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso feels the new format favours the leading teams.
“The rules are a little bit unfair for the smaller or less competitive teams because we finished all our sets [of tyres] in Q1 and in Q2 you have one chance,” he said.
Even the top guy of Formula 1 admits the new qualifying is not great. Bernie Ecclestone has described it as ‘crap’ in fact. Story via Yahoo!
The controversial new qualifying format did not impress Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes the new qualifying format debuted at the Australian Grand Prix is “pretty crap”.
The restructured format, which sees drivers eliminated at 90-second intervals during each of the three sessions, drew an abundance of criticism after a failed introduction at Albert Park.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton managed to claim a 50th career pole but several teams elected to save tyres, meaning there was a lack of action out on the track in the final stages.
Ecclestone did not travel to Melbourne for the season-opener but shared his opinion after watching qualifying on TV.
“I watched it, but I have to say I wasn’t enthusiastic about it from day one,” Ecclestone told Autosport.
“It was pretty crap. But this is what we’ve got, until we can change it.
“The only thing about this [format] is that the quick guys could have run off the road, or done anything a little bit silly, and then you would get a mixed-up grid, which is what we wanted.
“It just happens that Mercedes are still very, very good.”
Nico Rosberg, who qualified second fastest behind his team-mate, said race organisers should revert back to the old qualifying format, though Ecclestone believes the outcome would remain the same.
“If we go back to the old system, I tell you what would happen: Mercedes would be first and second,” the 85-year-old said.
“What I don’t want to see is where you and I could predict how the grid is going to be for the start of a race, and how that race is going to finish.
“You and I could sell everything we’ve got and put our money on Hamilton winning. It’s not what the public want.
“If you are a fan and you are on the way to a race we should be discussing whether or not Hamilton has to push, whether the Ferraris are quick, or maybe somebody else comes through, but they can’t do that any more.
“That’s what the problem is.”
F1’s elimination-style qualifying dropped with immediate effect.
Qualifying set to revert to 2015’s rules from Bahrain GP after team bosses agree immediate U-turn after farcical Melbourne qualy.
F1 qualifying will revert to the 2015 format from the next race in Bahrain after team bosses agreed to immediately drop the elimination-style system.
The sport’s new-look qualifying format for 2016 endured a disastrous debut at the Australian GP on Saturday with cars repeatedly not on track at the end of the three sessions – including the final minutes of Q3 when pole position should have been fought between the two quickest drivers.
Team principals, including Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and Maurizio Arrivabene, and sporting directors met with FIA race director Charlie Whiting to discuss an urgent response on Sunday morning in Melbourne.
Horner and Wolff confirmed on their departures from the 25-minute meeting that the team representatives had unanimously agreed to drop the system with immediate effect.
Pending official ratification by the F1 Commission and World Motor Sport Council, the qualifying system will revert to the more standard three-part knockout format used between 2006 and 2015 from the Bahrain GP on April 2-3.
“We made a mistake and will go back for the next race,” Horner told Sky Sports News HQ. “We are usually a pretty dysfunctional group but there was absolute unanimity.
“We’re tickling with the wrong areas. It’s like trying to introduce a second ball on the pitch in football. The problems aren’t in the format of qualifying or what a grand prix is. 2017 represents a great opportunity with different regs and that’s the opportunity that should be used for closer racing.
“All the teams are looking to protect their competitiveness, but you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. What do the fans want? Primarily a drivers’ championship. Drivers racing wheel to wheel in exciting fast cars.
“When you try and get 11 teams to write that on a piece of paper what it should be, that’s where it goes wrong. That’s where it should be taken out of the team’s hands. The promoter and the governing body should say, ‘this is what Formula 1’s going to be, sign up or do something else.'”
A shake-up of knockout qualifying was only first agreed two weeks ago and had already provoked controversy among drivers, who had argued that it would not work.
Team managers also met with FIA race director Charlie Whiting to express reservations about the new-look Q3 during testing at Barcelona, but the elimination system was subsequently rubber-stamped in its original form last week.
Mercedes boss Wolff said that while there would not be any further tinkering with the qualifying system over the rest of the season, F1 “shouldn’t wipe completely off the table” the idea of creating a new format to spice up the show in future.
Source: SkySportsF1