[Race] 2016 Australian GP

[Another Bob]

Wow, just read that Bernie thought it was crap, LOL.

Thing is, where to from here?

Back to the future or some more fiddling.

Bernie talks about the Mercs running riot, and the idea of the revised qualifying is to mix it up.

Fix the regs so the field closes up, don't introduce circus tricks to try and fix it!!!

[simon21191]

You know that something is wrong when the fight for pole position leaves the fans with 4 minutes of zero cars on track shocking this morning

[Another Bob]

Reading all posts from you guys in the UK.

At least I was watching it a decent time in the afternoon, not 6am!!!

Sorry, had to get that one in, usually its me at midnight.

[fourWheelDrift]

Martin Brundle summed it up in his commentary near the end of the session:

"Do you remember that weird qualifying format they had for one race at the start of 2016?"

I do hope he turns out to be right.

[Another Bob]

Yes, we only got all the Australian commentators including Alan Jones & Mark Webber, and they were scratching their heads and trying to be partially positive.

Good. on Martin for calling it out straight away.

[Akrapovic]

Last years qualifying was basically perfect. Why was it changed?

Anyway, predictable result but I'll watch the Ch4 coverage tomorrow anyway.

[djinvicta]

As Martin said, Spa with its long long lap will be a total failure with this system.

[FIRE]

It's too early to judge the new qualifying format.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by FIRE

It's too early to judge the new qualifying format.

agreed but it succeeded in one way....everyone is sufficiently outraged!

as for the quali results its Merc then Ferrari which was pretty much expected....from there on its really a very interesting grid.

Rosberg looked ragged, the STR pipping Williams and RBR, the FI in 9 and 10, Mclaren not at the bottom and possibly faster if they had managed the Quali session better and Haas ahead of Manor but Sauber ahead of both.

lots to be interested about imo.

[steve_r]

Well, that did not exactly work. First two parts were a bit meh, but maybe could work. 3rd part definitely does not work. Only 2 attempted more than one run and no cars at all on track for the last 4 minutes.

[rustyfan]

The frantic scramble at beginning of Q1 was pretty entertaining, but then... oh boy.

I doubt they'll revert completely to the old format - too much pride and ego involved for that - but hopefully they'll tweak it, perhaps reverting Q3 to the old format and also letting cars complete their flying laps during Q1 and Q2 without being eliminated mid-lap.

[steve_r]

You a re right about completing the flying laps. That would be better./

[canamman]

If it were up to me there would already be a press release
out going back to the previous qualifications format starting
with the next race. That was p a t h e t i c! US tv coverage
was hammering it and rightly so.

[chillibowl]

but potentially more complicated/confusing. the bigger issue imo comes from the length of time the in and out laps take but given more time to figure it out perhaps the teams can better sort that issue out as their computer models improve.

in fairness though, the system came very close to working and producing the desired results. if Rosberg (who managed to find the time) was not able to recover from his mistakes in Q1 then this things would have played out very differently.

[FIRE]

More time and tyres.

[Moneyseeker]

If we want something different that also penalises mistakes and is more difficult for the drivers, why not have the old BTCC qualifying - an out lap - fast lap to set Q time and in lap. The drivers go out in reverse champ order, and you send the next car out as the prevous car is half way round their in lap - so is continuous and the drivers get one shot and that's it.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

If we want something different that also penalises mistakes and is more difficult for the drivers, why not have the old BTCC qualifying - an out lap - fast lap to set Q time and in lap. The drivers go out in reverse champ order, and you send the next car out as the prevous car is half way round their in lap - so is continuous and the drivers get one shot and that's it.

We tried that in the 00s didn't we? I seem to remember it being horrifically boring and drawn out.

[chillibowl]

in 04 and 05.

surprisingly or not surprisingly i liked it!

[P38 in workshop]

At least they tried something different.Having seen it,can we have the old format back please?

[Sodemo]

Whats next, having the spectators throwing water bombs at the drivers they don't particularly like? (Think of it as a reverse of Formula E Fan Boost), I call it Hateboost.

[gert]

Originally Posted by FIRE

It's too early to judge the new qualifying format.

Well, I decided to reserve my judgement until I'd seen it.

It was dull, confusing, unexciting and I think it utterly sucks.
Please bin it.

--

Maybe those rock hard Michelin tires that you could put on in January and put off in December - those that Mr.E didn't want - would have come in handily instead of this Pirelli **** that lasts for a single lap.

[Mystery]

Well that was a shambles. The teams seemed clueless as to the rules and the required strategy, and the TV coverage wanted to focus on drivers trying to escape elimination except they'd already accepted their fate so we had long lingering shots of the pits, including a strange sequence focusing much too long on Button's helmet while he walked out of shot.

And then the system got a bit unlucky with Rosberg out of position after the first runs in Q3 so he had to go early to avoid elimination. I think Lewis had time to wait in the pits and see how Nico got on, but no doubt the team sent him out just to keep everything nice and equal even though waiting would have been the right thing to do. Except then we'd have had another minute of no action.

It was an interesting idea. It didn't work. But it still wasn't as ludicrous as the idea £cclestone had come up with. Maybe keep Q1 and 2 as is but I'd prefer not.

I know there's lots of obvious differences between F1 and MotoGP but this afternoon I watched two of their QP sessions which just had guys riding round and round as fast as they could developing the bikes as they go. It was excellent. That is how it's done.

[chillibowl]

was just having a look at the Melbourne GP wiki page.

looks like LH broke Schumi's 2004 lap record today!

[bjohnsonsmith]

I missed Qualifying, so maybe the BBC will show it on iplayer. However reading the various posts, it looks like it was a complete anti-climax. Apparently it's going to be scrapped.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35850766

Anyway, I see it's a Mercedes front row with Lewis is on pole, followed by the Ferraris, so despite the new format nothing's really changed.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Mystery

...I think Lewis had time to wait in the pits and see how Nico got on, but no doubt the team sent him out just to keep everything nice and equal even though waiting would have been the right thing to do...

does anyone know how many Supersofts the Merc drivers have left?

NR may have had to use an extra set to get through Q1 and as you say LH used an extra allotted set in Q3 to put in an extra lap that turned out to not matter.

the rest all saved a set of the supersoft rubber (rather just used the free set available to Q3 drivers) so they may be able to pull out an extra stint on the faster compound tomorrow. Massa and Vertstappen i believe also chose to have an extra set of supersofts prior to the start of the weekend so they may be holding the real advantage.

all in all it was nice to see the teams struggle with the format change and i am hoping that the real excitement will be seen tomorrow...which ultimately is where it should be anyways.