Tuesday 11th March 2008

Head: Make F1 Grid Back To Front

Williams team co-owner wants fastest F1 cars at back of the grid

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Patrick Head: F1 is boring

The fastest cars in Formula One should be put at the back of the grid to make it more interesting, Williams team co-owner Patrick Head believes.

The F1 boss is proposing a radical shake-up of the sport to make it more interesting.

This would involve putting the fastest cars at the back and the slowest on the front.

‘I would like to see the grids in reverse order of championship position," Head told BBC Sport.

‘It's the same for everybody, and over a whole season the right guy would still win the championship.’

However he believes the scheme would ‘very much upset the purists’ but wants the FIA, the sport’s governing body, to be ‘a bit more adventurous’.

A number of changes are introduced each year to make F1 more interesting but Head believes none have been successful.

‘If you allow the guys to do all this practice and testing and then you line them up with the fastest at the front and the slowest at the back, why should there be any overtaking?’ he added.

‘Maybe overtaking will be less difficult, but if a guy is back there because he is 0.3 seconds slower than the car in front, why should he overtake [it]?’

[DamoLLb]

Well there is an incentive to build the fastest cars, ensure the fastest qualifying....good one. Teams will just play tactics, imagine pole being given to the slowest car-FFS

I'm sure the sponsors would also love to see there cars hanging out at the back!!

[Dr G]

Ultimately, all this would achieve is even more races being won purely on pit strategy - ergo - boring F1.

[dinkel]

Take it easy at the practise . . . get a 'pole' at front and win because you silently know you've the fastest car . . .

WTF did he drink? It's not 1963 anymore . . .

I can imagne we'll go back to 4 litre NA engines with a 9K rpm restriction . . . and get rid of those silly plastic add-ons for aerodynamics-sake.

[jimbro1000]

Do it right and it does work! We used to run reverse grids in our series and it made each and every race far more entertaining for the drivers and spectators.

I agree there still has to be some incentive to qualify fastest and I suspect a quick look to the more points rich race series would solve that issue. Give away points for qualifying as well as racing, it effectively turns the qualifying into a form of sprint race. You can still opt to qualify slow but that means your competitors are going to score valuable points. Races like Monaco where overtaking is bordering on impossible would see everyone trying to qualify for the front which would make it a bit of a farce but if it means the "lesser" teams score valuable points then so be it.

[mark_f1]

It's easy.

Take the finishing places from the previous race and reverse it.

[SamHH]

dinkel said:

Take it easy at the practise . . . get a 'pole' at front and win because you silently know you've the fastest car . . .

What do you mean? He's suggesting the grid is based on championship position.

[Neomagic]

Not that I really follow F1 as I find it rather dull, due to restrictions and politics in the sport, but surely this is a good thing?

It makes the sport more competitive and makes sense, I mean how else are the slower drivers / cars ever going to have a chance if there put to the back?

[SamHH]

jimbro1000 said:

Do it right and it does work! We used to run reverse grids in our series and it made each and every race far more entertaining for the drivers and spectators.

I agree there still has to be some incentive to qualify fastest and I suspect a quick look to the more points rich race series would solve that issue. Give away points for qualifying as well as racing, it effectively turns the qualifying into a form of sprint race. You can still opt to qualify slow but that means your competitors are going to score valuable points. Races like Monaco where overtaking is bordering on impossible would see everyone trying to qualify for the front which would make it a bit of a farce but if it means the "lesser" teams score valuable points then so be it.

He's suggesting that the grid is not determined by a qualifying session.

[patmahe]

If this were done there would need to be a few other changes. Significant bonus points for quali. And then as Head says reverse championship order grids, so qualifying counts for nothing but is worth points. Then I think we need a system whereby every position is elegible for points with say 25 to the winner all the way back to 1 point for 20th position, this would make every position worth racing for and would benefit the smaller teams.

I would also do away with pitstops, except for mechanical/bodywork repairs. I believe this change is well overdue.

Just imagine a title decider with the 3 main competitors starting at the back and the best racer winning.

The idea has merit and is certainly not one to be dismissed.

[VxDuncan]

I guess they'd have to run extra practising in place of the qualifying then and loose TV coverage of the Saturday. Sounds like a good idea, but Bernie would never take a hit like that.

[martaay]

poorly reported by PH, read the BBC version for the full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula... actually sounds good imo

Edited by martaay on Tuesday 11th March 11:05

[Cliffv8]

I take it this year williams is not looking to good

[PhantomPH]

Yeah, a few people have got the wrong end of the stick here - it's based on championship position.

So - do you can qualifying all together? Or....do you still have a 'qualifying' style event the day before as now, but the ultimate prize is NOT grid position, but championship points?

I don't think Patrick is that far from a good idea here. Doesn't Touring Car reverse positions of some sort between races?

edit to say - a few people beat me to it with the idea of 'qualifying' being an event in it's own right. Doh!

Edited by PhantomPH on Tuesday 11th March 11:05

[dinkel]

SamHH said:

dinkel said:

Take it easy at the practise . . . get a 'pole' at front and win because you silently know you've the fastest car . . .

What do you mean? He's suggesting the grid is based on championship position.

Than it makes more sense . . .

[Demure]

What a stupid idea, every team will have their cars at walking pace for qualifying. Sounds tedious to me.

Why can't they learn lessons from the GP2 series? (which IMO is awesome to watch)

[spoonoff]

Obviously you can't set grid order by qualifying or each qualifying lap would take hours/days/weeks. Reverse the grid from the last race is a good idea, but how do you sort the order for race 1?

[ayfy]

I'm an passionate F1 fan and I think this idea or something like it is well overdue.

Reversed championship order would work well but how about combining qualifying position with chamionship position to work out your grid position, thus we still have a competitive qualifying session. Not totally sure how it would work but putting in a good qualifying lap would possibly see you move up slightly from your reversed championship position.

[chickensoup]

Would take it from a 3 day event at a circuit to a one day event - bad for revenue at the circuit, poor for tv also
Reverse order at Monaco would be "interesting" (read that as tedious)
Back of grid for an engine swap did not make for devastatingly interesting television in my recollection of last year

[Fetchez la vache]

wouldn't this knock the idea of qualifying on the head though? If the qualifying has no say in the grid.

Must do though, as he goes on to say that they use the same fuel for qualifying & racing - ie team would decide to qualify with a full tank or almost empty, but then they'd start the race with the same amount of fuel that they finished qualifying.

I don't understand, and my head hurts

[timewatch]

Quote ! F1 boss Patrick Head say's F1 is boring ? yes he's right.. FULL STOP .

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