Bernie Disagerees with New Qualifying System

BootsOntheSide · 27 Mar 2003, 12:31 (Ref:549862)

From f1-live

Bernie calling for change to qualifying

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has called for changes to the new one lap qualifying system introduced for this season.

According to the BBC, Ecclestone has called the new sessions “horrible” and has said that the “excitement of qualifying has gone.”

However, his views are completely opposite to those of FIA President Max Mosley who implemented the new rules before the start of the season and who believes that qualifying has increased the excitement of the Grand Prix weekend by producing unusual times and mixing up the grid.

It is true that the two Renaults starting on the first row of the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix was a surprise and can probably be attributed to the new qualifying system.

Ecclestone however believes that the qualifying times we have seen are false because drivers are not pushing themselves due to having to carry different fuel loads.

He told Agencia Estado, the Brazilian news agency, “First, the drivers are not driving on the limit in qualifying, and then they complete only one fast lap and they return to the pits and do nothing – they can only watch. “They don't have the chance to try to beat a rival who has bettered their time. There's no fighting – the excitement of qualifying has gone.”

There seems to be uncertainty, however about what changes may arise. The FIA are meeting next month to discuss rule changes but Max Mosley has said that more time is needed to see the full potential of the new qualifying system and there will only be procedural changes.

Bernie Ecclestone, however, appears to be expecting more substantial changes. He said, “When you go to see the doctor and he gives you a pill and that doesn't heal you, he changes your medication. The new system is not working. We are going to wait a bit longer and then we are going to change it.”

WHat do you think of this? I think Bernies wrong, I've really enjoyed the qualifying sessions so far, and they've defiantely enhanced the race. The drivers are giving it 100%, just within different parameters to before.

And, unless I'm very much mistaken, that was my 2000th post.

AndyF · 27 Mar 2003, 12:53 (Ref:549886)

What is Bernie on about??? I swear that man is insane!!

racer69 · 27 Mar 2003, 12:59 (Ref:549894)

Suprisingly, i agree completely with Ecclestone on this issue, one lap qualifying is silly.

AndyF · 27 Mar 2003, 13:07 (Ref:549907)

Yes but F1 is now more interesting to watch than paint dry, unlike last season.

DNQ · 27 Mar 2003, 13:09 (Ref:549911)

Agreed Andy.

Why is Bernie bagging F1 all of a sudden? I've heard several quotes from Big Bern this week where he has been less than positive about F1 :confused:

Lee Janotta · 27 Mar 2003, 13:14 (Ref:549924)

Either he's insane, or he just plain hates the fans!

golem · 27 Mar 2003, 13:22 (Ref:549938)

Holy ****, what kind of idiots are these guys?

Ok, here's how it should run. They do friday quals as per old rules. Then saturday as per new rules, fuel and all. HOWEVER, the top 10 can opt to go again. They can change fuel, whatever. But the last run they make is the one that counts. Not the fastest. And you can knock yourself out of the top ten. So one at a time, they go again until they're happy.

So the top ten get a shot at one upmanship. But knocking yourself down the order is very possible. You might get a maximum of 4 runs or more runs the better your very first run was.

See, people might say: But, people will not know how many runs they'll make. No differant to the old qualifying where absolutely no one went out at some stages of qualifying. =/

Either that or old style qualifying on friday, saturday and then a top ten shootout with the new rules.

Dutton · 27 Mar 2003, 13:26 (Ref:549946)

I concur with Bernie essentially, with regards to the active excitement of qualifying having been gone. I find the Friday session significantly better than Saturday, on the basis it is a more accurate gauge of where everyone is at. However, I am not coming to any firm conclusions until everything has bedded in a bit.

Based on what has occured so far, the old system was superior.

I guess that means I hate myself then, Lee?

Alas, I am not sure Bernie going about voicing his opinions in the manner he has is of a desperate help to the situation.

KC · 27 Mar 2003, 13:52 (Ref:549983)

The problem with the old qualifying is it only needed to be about 15 minutes long, not an hour. I have sat through untold number of them where only a Minardi or Jordan was on the track for 45 minutes. Where is the excitement in that? I certainly don't watch it for the scintillating commentary of guys who are watching it on TV as well.

Bernie has been hearing a lot of complaints from the top teams who have not been on the front rows and have to deal with drivers like Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli now, guys who are capable of putting together one fast lap for qualifying. Thats why he's complaining now.

**Adam43** · 27 Mar 2003, 14:07 (Ref:549999)

I agree with a lot of what Bernie says above.

Saturday qualifying isn't as exciting as last year. Apart from perhaps the first 20 minutes! Eveyone used to get a chance to shoot at eneryone else's time. Also the fuel make comparisons of times pointless.

Having said that one at a time qualifying should be given a chance, I wish they had tried it without the fuel.

The races have been more entertaining than before. The two we have had. In someways the grid is a little artificial now. Single lap times are good and if a driver messes up and looses a few positions on the grid then that is his own fault. I am still not too keen on drivers position being realted to the how much fuel they choose. Sure the grid is different, but it is all artificial and I'm not sure that it adds anything. Alonso was artificially on pole and pulled away until he stopped for fuel and then he ended up in the position that he deserved.

It does however mean that the fastest drivers may start in the pack and run into someone, removing thme from the equation. Is this a good thing?

**Stephen Green** · 27 Mar 2003, 14:27 (Ref:550014)

Of course this could just be another clever ploy to grab newspaper and TV coverage? It's got us all talking about it so why should that not be the case on a global basis?

Nice one Bernie, poke the fire and walk away.....very clever.

Inigo Montoya · 27 Mar 2003, 14:30 (Ref:550018)

Well, the Ferrari conspiracy theory followers will say its because Ferrari has not been winning....

Kenny W. · 27 Mar 2003, 14:31 (Ref:550019)

How about paying a 0.1sec penalty for a second attempt. But the first attempt is negated? (With no fuel changes in-between)?

BootsOntheSide · 27 Mar 2003, 14:38 (Ref:550021)

Quote:

Originally posted by golem
Holy ****, what kind of idiots are these guys?

Ok, here's how it should run. They do friday quals as per old rules. Then saturday as per new rules, fuel and all. HOWEVER, the top 10 can opt to go again. They can change fuel, whatever. But the last run they make is the one that counts. Not the fastest. And you can knock yourself out of the top ten. So one at a time, they go again until they're happy.

So the top ten get a shot at one upmanship. But knocking yourself down the order is very possible. You might get a maximum of 4 runs or more runs the better your very first run was.

See, people might say: But, people will not know how many runs they'll make. No differant to the old qualifying where absolutely no one went out at some stages of qualifying. =/

Either that or old style qualifying on friday, saturday and then a top ten shootout with the new rules.

Interesting structure there, it soudns like the best of both worlds, but the problem is that it will be of an unspecified length, which will cause problems for TV schedules and also delay the F3000 support races.

The way around that might be to start everyone running 30 minutes earlier, thus allowing extra time for the optional extra runs (perhaps only allow 2 or 3 chances per driver), and leaving it up to the local TV stations as to what they cover.

Carla O · 27 Mar 2003, 14:45 (Ref:550030)

Quote:

Originally posted by KC
The problem with the old qualifying is it only needed to be about 15 minutes long, not an hour. I have sat through untold number of them where only a Minardi or Jordan was on the track for 45 minutes. Where is the excitement in that? I certainly don't watch it for the scintillating commentary of guys who are watching it on TV as well.

My words exaclty!

Glen · 27 Mar 2003, 15:07 (Ref:550051)

I don't get his devotion to the qualifying session - unless he is worried that TV networks will stop paying for coverage of Saturday becaue it has become less spectacular and less significant. F1 is races, not qualifying - just because we all got used to qualifying being the only exciting bit (ok, I exagerrate) doesn't make it important.

**Stephen Green** · 27 Mar 2003, 15:12 (Ref:550059)

Of course it could be that the teams get equal air time on TV thus making it easier to get new sponsorship. Or, going on from what Glen said above, the TV stations now show the session with cars on the track at all times, thus making it more TV friendly?

Testure · 27 Mar 2003, 15:15 (Ref:550061)

Quote:

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
qualifying
...
Vs.
...
The races

Well that's it isn't it? Last year, we had people rightly saying that some of the qualifying sessions were more interesting than the godawful races. Now we have people saying the reverse. The reason that those sessions are a bit dull is the fuel rules, right? But those rules are also the reason that the races are more interesting! Personally, I'm not here to view drivers dueling with hot laps - if that's what I wanted, I might as well go and watch testing sessions. I want interesting racing and that's what the new rules are giving me.

golem · 27 Mar 2003, 15:55 (Ref:550092)

True. I like the fact qualifying is spicing up the race a bit. I think however max may actually be right... maybe another race or two and we'll see how it peters out.

steve_r · 27 Mar 2003, 16:45 (Ref:550142)

Quote:

Originally posted by DNQ
Why is Bernie bagging F1 all of a sudden? I've heard several quotes from Big Bern this week where he has been less than positive about F1 :confused:

Maybe he's become a fan of CART, and is soon to walk away!

senna12 · 27 Mar 2003, 16:55 (Ref:550151)

I agree that the new qualifying is not as exciting as the old one, which probably should have only been 40 minutes long, not an hour....but since it has produced much more exciting races, I'm ok with the tradeoff.

If they would allow refueling between qualifying and the race, we could have it both ways. Perhaps the mechanics could have a couple of hours on the cars before Parc Ferme as well, just to check everything over quickly.

Tristan · 27 Mar 2003, 16:58 (Ref:550156)

Qually schmally. Gimme a decent race.

THAT BEING SAID, two good races in a row doesn't mean the new qually is working. It could just be fluke.

Speed · 27 Mar 2003, 17:07 (Ref:550169)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kenny W.
How about paying a 0.1sec penalty for a second attempt. But the first attempt is negated? (With no fuel changes in-between)?

No, no, no..., no more artificial solutions, pleeeaseeeee.

neilap · 27 Mar 2003, 17:13 (Ref:550176)

The issue I have is qualifying with fuel. Also I think they should use an aggregate of the times for both qualifying days. This way the teams cant take time off one of the days.

Mal · 27 Mar 2003, 17:48 (Ref:550220)

There is a very interesting article on grandprix.com speculating about CART and F1 and the GPWC: http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns08855

This could give a reason as to why Bernie is slating F1 and is gradually repositioning himself.

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