I wonder how old the person asking for the hour long qualifying session back is? I can remember them. No one left the pits for 20 minutes. Then Minardi would come out to get some TV exposure for their sponsors. Then the odd other driver who might have had a bit of trouble in practice comes out for a shakedown and goes back in again. There's still 30 minutes left. Then some of the top teams come out to check track conditions and go back into the pits again. Only in the last 15-20 minutes does anything exciting happen. TBH they were dull as dishwater far more than they were exciting. TV companies hated them, spectators hated them as they only saw the car a few times, sometimes drivers would do an out lap, timed lap, in lap and watch the timing screens in case they needed to go out again. The new process, while I admit is kind of designed for TV companies to allow a commercial break between sessions has far more car on track time which, after all, is what those on TV and those at the track have paid for.