F1 Qualifying - how long before we see...

[LocoBlade]

Given Webber's race pace in China finishing within a few seconds of his team mate and the race winner despite starting 18th, and given that a reasonable chunk of that pace can be attributed to him having 4 brand new sets of tyres to run, I wonder if at the odd track with high tyre degradation and where overtaking should be achievable, whether some of the quicker teams might consider getting into Q3 then not running in the top 10 shootout at all.

Doing that you start in 10th but with either one or two extra sets of soft rubber compared to those at the front plus you can start on brand new rubber and pick which compound to start on because you've not set a Q3 time so arent forced to use those tyres. Given Webber's pace relative to the leading cars and the fact that he worked his way to the front without the aid of KERS, I could see this working in certain circumstances.

Another possible scenario we may see is the top teams doing their Q2 run on hard rubber, with the thinking that if they get through to Q3, they've saved a set of softs, and if they don't get through to Q3 then they've got lots of fresh tyres to pick from and a slot just outside the top 10.

[John D.]

Off the back of todays race I can see such tactics being deployed. Good stuff and very interesting in my book.


These new tyres suck eh?

[EDLT]

I thought the Torro Rossos or Di Resta would do that, they were never going to get much higher than 8th were they?

[TimJMS]

Webber put this idea straight into public consciousness in the post race interview.

[deveng]

[deveng]

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

[Mermaid]

How long before no restrictions on tyre - in practice or the race.

[thatsprettyshady]

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

[mybrainhurts]

LocoBlade said:

Blah

THIS is why F1 is no longer worthy of name RACING.

[MiniMan64]

thatsprettyshady said:

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

[John D.]

MiniMan64 said:

thatsprettyshady said:

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

Kind of my take on that too. (I stay away until after)

[deveng]

MiniMan64 said:

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

Well I'm waiting to go home and watch it. So I thought I'd look on pistonheads, and since people generally say when a thread contains spoilers I thought it would be safe.

Sorry for offending you, I hope my comment hasn't affected your sensitive nature.

[MiniMan64]

deveng said:

MiniMan64 said:

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

Well I'm waiting to go home and watch it. So I thought I'd look on pistonheads, and since people generally say when a thread contains spoilers I thought it would be safe.

Sorry for offending you, I hope my comment hasn't affected your sensitive nature.

Sensitive nature?

ps off

What on earth did you expect though? I rarely watch the early ones live catching the re-run or an I-Player once I'm up but before that happens I certainly don't log on to Pistonheads and I avoid any news or sports channels. It's not hard.

[anonymous-user]

MiniMan64 said:

thatsprettyshady said:

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

+1

Utterly stupid.

ETA: I mean it's utterly stupid to be on PH when avoiding F1 news.

[Jasandjules]

I would not be shocked at all. In essence, Hamilton employed a similar tactic whilst seeking to get as high up the grid as possible.

Tyre degredation was meant to give us more racing and overtaking etc and it seems to be working....

[Shaw Tarse]

MSTRBKR said:

MiniMan64 said:

thatsprettyshady said:

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

+1

Utterly stupid.

ETA: I mean it's utterly stupid to be on PH when avoiding F1 news.

It's not even as if the OP said
1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Webber

[Heathwood]

Back on topic, I agree with the principle, however, I'm not sure anyone but the redbulls have good the level of surplus pace to make this work. Oh, and Vettel's only comfortable if out in front, so that just leaves Webber.

[mattikake]

LocoBlade said:

<Clear scope for tactics>

Amen to it. In "the good old days" quali was not as important as race setup and it's race that should matter. I waiting to see some of the top drivers try Q3 on the hard tyres.

Things are definitely heading in the right direction, but it needs to be 2 stops v 1, not 2 v 3 or 3 v 4.

[LocoBlade]

MiniMan64 said:

thatsprettyshady said:

deveng said:

Thanks for writing 'contains spoilers' in the title.

+1

ps off.

If you haven't yet watched the race what the bloody hell are doing in the Motorsport section of Pistonheads.

Ridiculous.

Call me cynical but I suspect the reality is at least some of those who post actually know the result and have absolutely nothing spoiled, but see a tenuous reason to have a moan because it makes them feel all warm and fuzzy with self righteousness.

If this really spoiled the race for someone though then Im sorry as I know how it feels, but whenever I've been in a similar situation I've made a big effort to avoid all possible avenues of media etc just in case, presumably TV and radio gets avoided even though it might only have a 15 second report of the results in a news bulletin every couple of hours, so it baffles me why they'd come on a Motorsport forum and click on threads relating to F1 blindly expecting not to see any indication of whats happened?

[Prestige Detail]

LocoBlade said:

Given Webber's race pace in China finishing within a few seconds of his team mate and the race winner despite starting 18th, and given that a reasonable chunk of that pace can be attributed to him having 4 brand new sets of tyres to run, I wonder if at the odd track with high tyre degradation and where overtaking should be achievable, whether some of the quicker teams might consider getting into Q3 then not running in the top 10 shootout at all.

Doing that you start in 10th but with either one or two extra sets of soft rubber compared to those at the front plus you can start on brand new rubber and pick which compound to start on because you've not set a Q3 time so arent forced to use those tyres. Given Webber's pace relative to the leading cars and the fact that he worked his way to the front without the aid of KERS, I could see this working in certain circumstances.

Another possible scenario we may see is the top teams doing their Q2 run on hard rubber, with the thinking that if they get through to Q3, they've saved a set of softs, and if they don't get through to Q3 then they've got lots of fresh tyres to pick from and a slot just outside the top 10.

Was thinking this when Webber mentioned it in the post race interview and seeing how he and Lewis made this work, looks like tactics will be changing for some of the races.