Does F1 still have the 107% qualifying rule?

[Woody]

Guy's,
A quick question.
With the new teams and some of the comments re competetivness levelled at them, and the fact that HRT haven't even turned a wheel does the 107% rule still apply?
Can't remeber if it was got rid of a few years back or not?

It would be nice to see a full grid but do we really want someone who's 5 seconds off the pace trundling round to get some testing data and providing a good attempt at being a mobile chicane?

Chris

[The Milfman]

In a word, no.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by The Milfman on Wednesday 10th March 11:25

[patmahe]

The 107% rule doesn't apply, though I can see it being brought back in some form at some stage. The FIA however, true to form will wait until a major incident occurs before introducing it.

[Woody]

Thanks chaps - though it was gone, but couldn't remember.

Think they'll need to do something, would be nice if all the teams were up to speed though and not too far off the pace.

Here's a hypothetical then:
If say HRT are woefully off the pace in qually can the other teams lodge a protest and refuse to race if they're allowed to 'prop up the grid' on safety/speed differential grounds?

[skwdenyer]

Woody said:

Thanks chaps - though it was gone, but couldn't remember.

Think they'll need to do something, would be nice if all the teams were up to speed though and not too far off the pace.

Here's a hypothetical then:
If say HRT are woefully off the pace in qually can the other teams lodge a protest and refuse to race if they're allowed to 'prop up the grid' on safety/speed differential grounds?

So, F1 drivers can't even overtake cars which are much slower than theirs? That should make some good headlines

[Woody]

skwdenyer said:

Woody said:

Thanks chaps - though it was gone, but couldn't remember.

Think they'll need to do something, would be nice if all the teams were up to speed though and not too far off the pace.

Here's a hypothetical then:
If say HRT are woefully off the pace in qually can the other teams lodge a protest and refuse to race if they're allowed to 'prop up the grid' on safety/speed differential grounds?

So, F1 drivers can't even overtake cars which are much slower than theirs? That should make some good headlines

Not quite what I was implying.
If someone is 4 seconds a lap slower the speed differential between the two cars will be quite large. Add to this a 'rookie' driver who's trying his hardest to go as quick as he can and they may not be as observant as they should be. Overtaking some one is OK when the person know's they're being overtaken.
Gives the potential for a rather nasty accident.

[Mazda Baiter]

Like I said in one of the previous threads about this. They are all proffesional drivers. They all have far more experience than you or I have. They have been dealing with this since they were kids. Maybe we should wait and see how large the differential is before we speculate as to how much it will be. In years gone by we used to see far greater laptime differences than 4 seconds. They used to top up the F1 grid with F2 cars at the Nurburgring. That's the old Nordschliefe.

I personally think it will break up the procession at the front of the race so therefore it is a good thing.

[rev-erend]

Woody said:

skwdenyer said:

Woody said:

Thanks chaps - though it was gone, but couldn't remember.

Think they'll need to do something, would be nice if all the teams were up to speed though and not too far off the pace.

Here's a hypothetical then:
If say HRT are woefully off the pace in qually can the other teams lodge a protest and refuse to race if they're allowed to 'prop up the grid' on safety/speed differential grounds?

So, F1 drivers can't even overtake cars which are much slower than theirs? That should make some good headlines

Not quite what I was implying.
If someone is 4 seconds a lap slower the speed differential between the two cars will be quite large. Add to this a 'rookie' driver who's trying his hardest to go as quick as he can and they may not be as observant as they should be. Overtaking some one is OK when the person know's they're being overtaken.
Gives the potential for a rather nasty accident.

They seem to manage OK at Le Mans..

[joewilliams]

Woody said:

do we really want someone who's 5 seconds off the pace trundling round to get some testing data and providing a good attempt at being a mobile chicane?

5 seconds off the pace on a 1:15 lap is inside the 107% rule

[DeadMeat_UK]

I predict it will be in place by 27th March.

[snotrag]

rev-erend said:

They seem to manage OK at Le Mans..

My thoughts exactly. Plenty of other race series have far higher speed differentials between cars than the difference between Two F1 cars lapping at a 5s per lap gap.

[DeadMeat_UK]

snotrag said:

rev-erend said:

They seem to manage OK at Le Mans..

My thoughts exactly. Plenty of other race series have far higher speed differentials between cars than the difference between Two F1 cars lapping at a 5s per lap gap.

Tenths of seconds count less, and there is a longer game that drivers can play.
Current F1 it's all about the short game, every lap is crucial.

[Rude-boy]

DeadMeat_UK said:

snotrag said:

rev-erend said:

They seem to manage OK at Le Mans..

My thoughts exactly. Plenty of other race series have far higher speed differentials between cars than the difference between Two F1 cars lapping at a 5s per lap gap.

Tenths of seconds count less, and there is a longer game that drivers can play.
Current F1 it's all about the short game, every lap is crucial.

Well 1/10 of a second is less as a pergentage of the total race time I will grant you but given the level of the top GT teams these days you are talking about something closer to a 4/6/8/12/24 hour GP than ever before.

All of these boys will know the score and have had chuggers at the back of their grids since the first kart race they tried.

Any complatint about all this is pure waffle and gets in the way of the real racing. The slower teams will either improve or fail and the swifter ones will learn how best to pass them or fall behind their rivals who are less highly strung and manage to find a way through.

[spend]

Current F1 tyres seem to be the root cause of many of the problems, why the FIA didn't focus more on regulating the tyres beats me?

Making racing possible on all of the tarmac would go a long way to dispelling many issues IMHO. Far better than rev limits, chicanes, fear of slower cars...

[skwdenyer]

spend said:

Current F1 tyres seem to be the root cause of many of the problems, why the FIA didn't focus more on regulating the tyres beats me?

Making racing possible on all of the tarmac would go a long way to dispelling many issues IMHO. Far better than rev limits, chicanes, fear of slower cars...

I'm not sure how that would be achieved, however. F1 tyres are so soft that they spall significant amounts of rubber during a race. The only way to remove that obstacle would be to mandate much, much harder tyres. That would leave F1 cars lapping slower than, say, GP2...