Its all about the tyres!

Ah ok. I thought you were suggesting people choose which manufacturer to go with at each GP.

The problem with giving teams full choice of tyres is Pirelli would have to transport hundreds of sets around the globe that never get used. At least with the limited numbers they have now every set they take is used.
 
I'm starting to think just a single tyre compound and a mandated 2 stop race (with the tyres easily doing 50% race distance) would be a way for push them into racing hard all race?
 
As I understand it the requirement to start on the tyres you qualified on was brought in to prevent ultra soft 'qualifying' tyres coming back. As we have a single supplier with predefined compounds this is no longer a issue and so the ruling should be scrapped.

I also don't like the artificiality of needing to race on both compounds. As an alternative I'd suggest getting rid of this but requiring the teams to choose their own tyre allocation. Pirelli make 4 compounds available as they do now but the teams choose their 11 sets of dry tyres in whatever combination they want. Logistically Pirelli aren't going to want to be shipping any more tyres around the world than they already do so the teams would have to make this call well in advance of the race weekend (I seem to recall seeing that pirellis lead time for a race weekend worth of tyres is in the 4-6 weeks region). The teams would then be left with a strategic choice between committing heavily to one or two compounds with the risk of getting caught out if its hotter/colder than they anticipated or taking 2-3 sets of all 4 compounds with the risk that might run out of the 'best' tyre
 
I have a feeling that firstly, no matter what is done, the teams will find a solution that either doesn't solve the problem or causes new ones and secondly, the fans won't like it.
 
Drivers and teams have always had to manage something and in the end they find solutions. There were tyre issues at the start of last season, Lotus saves an extra set of tyres from qualifying and went in to finish second.

The FIA have to constantly try and stay one step ahead of some very clever engineers or at least throw a spanner in the works very now and then. Otherwise the cars would be doing 300 MPH and breaking lap records all the time.
 
Skeeter said:
Has there ever been a time in F1 before when not setting a time in Qualifying was not only allowed, but could be advantageous?
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If you're referring to the Chinese GP then Vettel only finished in front of Button, Grosjean and Massa after starting behind them by not setting a time. Whether or not he gained a genuine advantage from this is debatable. He had a much faster car than Button anyway, Massa was slow on the medium tyre and Grosjean didn't turn up to the races until Bahrain.

I'd also say that at the Bahrain GP all ten drivers in Q3 set a time. Probably after realising that the tactic of not setting a time the week before didnt really pay dividends.
 
They only all set times in Bahrain because they knew the tyres would last.

If you look back over the last couple of years there are a lot of cases of people starting 9th or 10th on the grid with a qualifying time of "No Time". Where I come from, No Time means you start last.

Its all a bit broken if Qualifying isn't actually about Qualifying.
 
The problem with qualifying is the TV audience and the spectators want a show. The teams are only interested in what's best for them in the race. You can't seem to have both without it being in some way contrived.

I don't think anyone, who hasn't set a time in Q3, has gone on to finish on the podium or win a race yet. On the occasions when 9th or 10th haven't set a time it's only ever gained a few places. It's something the midfield teams roll the dice on in the hope it'll throw a result their way.

I think the best way to make it a show and encourage all the teams to participate is to give points for the top three. Maybe 5, 3 and 1 points. And to make sure that 9th is genuinely better place to start than 10th make the spaces between grid slots twice as big as they are now for the first five rows.

Even if you boot out drivers that don't set a time they'll end up breaking Parc Ferme, changing the car to suit the race and start from the pitlane. Just like Webber did in China last year.

At the end of the day no matter what the format is changed to there will always be some rule that the teams skirt around to suit whatever position they are in to get the maximum they can on a Sunday.
 
I know its a difficult balancing act, but we have never had this situation before where drivers decide not to set qualifying times. Its a situation caused directly by a limited (too small) allocation of tyres that don't last very long.

An additional set or two in Quali would solve the problem. This 3 session qualifying has been around for a long time, its only in the Pirelli years that the top 10 shoot out has been the top 7 or 8 shoot out.
 
True, but people in qualifying not trying to set the fastest time they can is wrong.

Qualifying should be about going as fast as possible, not tactically going slow or not setting a time at all.
 
Didn't we have the same situation with the tyres last year? By the time we were back in Europe it seemed to go away. Either the teams got better at not wearing the tyres out or Pirelli making more durable compounds.

I will point out again that Pirelli are only fulfilling the FIA's remit and they shouldn't be bearing all the blame for the tyres we have at the moment.
 
kaiowas said:
Qualifying stopped being about qualifying as soon as we reached a point where there were so few cars entered that everyone is guaranteed an opportunity to race.
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F1 is too expensive to go back to those days. I hate to think how much Caterham and Marussia are spending to be at the back of the grid every race.

To get back to those days then a seriously budget reduction is required and maybe even teams supplying cars to privateers. Even then it would be an expensive sport to turn up on the off chance of qualifying for a race. I watched a program the other night and the Hesketh team bought their car from March and still spent £500,000 in 1975.
 
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