Formula 1 will test a change to its qualifying format in round six of the season at Imola. But its plan to dictates which tyre compound must be used in each segment of qualifying has not impressed drivers.
Currently competitors are free to choose which of a race weekend’s nominated tyre compounds they will use in qualifying. That will change under the new format being trialled at two races this year.
The plan was originally dubbed the Revised Qualifying Format when it was agreed last year. It has since been renamed the ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ and will be introduced at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
At this event each car will have 11 sets of slick tyres available for the weekend as F1 evaluates a reduction from the usual 12 to cut costs and waste. The allocation will include three sets of the hard compound, four of the medium and four of the soft.
The hard tyres are mandated for use in the first segment of qualifying, drivers who progress to Q2 are only allowed to use medium tyres then, and those who make the top-ten shootout for pole are required to use soft tyres. If any part of qualifying is declared wet, then “any specification of tyre may be used.”
However the three drivers who headed the first qualifying session of 2023 were unimpressed with the planned change when asked by RaceFans for their views on it.
“I hope it’s not going to be cold in Imola. Otherwise it’s going to be quite tricky,” said Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
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“It’s the same for everyone, but I don’t think we need to actually do these kinds of things in qualifying. I don’t really see the benefit of it.
“It’s better if we make sure that all the cars are close to each other and more competitive instead of spicing things up in that way, which I think is probably for the show.”
The first qualifying session of the new season was considerably closer than it had been 12 months ago. Less than a second covered the top 17 cars in Q1 at Bahrain, the top ten in Q2 was split by 0.845s and the battle for pole was decided in Verstappen’s favour by 0.138s over team mate Sergio Perez.
Nonetheless Perez was no more impressed with the planned change than his team mate. “I just think it’s for the show. I think we don’t need that,” he said.
“When you see the qualifying we had today, how close everything was, you don’t really need to change anything….
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