Formula One Considering Changes To Qualifying

The FIA is pondering changes to how qualifying sessions for Formula One operate in a bid to increase on-track action.

At last weekend’s Russian Grand Prix, there were three drivers on the grid that had enough power unit parts changed to penalize them and send them down the starting grid. As such, when these three, including the two Red Bull’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, progressed to Q2, they had no incentive to put in any timed laps as they were going to start at the back of the grid anyway.

The two Renaults also failed to set timed laps as starting out of the top 10 gave them a better choice of tires for the race, Motorsport reports.

“When you’ve got five drivers with exactly the same penalty, you then have to establish in what order they are supposed to be (applied). I think there is another way, I’ve been talking about it to a few teams,” Race director Charlie Whiting said.

“If you have five drivers you will arrange them at the back in the order in which they qualified. That would provide some incentive for drivers to actually go and qualify, and try to qualify as high as they could at least.”

After the Russian Grand Prix, F1’s managing director for motorsport Ross Brawn suggested that qualifying could be expanded to four sessions rather than three.

“The qualifying format has now been well established for several years, apart from the unsuccessful experiment at the start of 2016, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look at ways of improving it.”

A potential four-phase qualifying would see four drivers eliminated in each of the first three phases before the final eight competed for pole position in Q4.