F1 Qualifying to change, again...

[FourWheelDrift]

The FIA Overlords have decreed to the minions that there are plans to stage at least one part of F1 qualifying on Sunday morning, after the "success " of the Typhoon enforced Sunday qualifying at Suzuka.

The new format will have one session on Saturday afternoons as per usual and the second session on Sunday morning. The first part would be run according to the reverse order of the previous race result, with the list of qualifying times then generating the running order for part two. Session times will then be aggregated to get the qualifying grid. The teams can run Saturday session with low fuel but must run race fuel for the Sunday morning session.

Anyone else think this is utter pants with regards to the television broadcasting of it, would ITV actually broadcast 2 qualifying sessions? On different days!!!???? Certainly in the UK where soap, docu-soaps, relality soaps, reality docu-soaps and football get preference over everything on ITV so they are unlikely to ever show it live in case it clashes with the omnibus edition of "Coronationbrookenders Farm & Away" or god forbid the Sunday morning highlights of the previous days Nationwide Conference Division Football games.

[Eric Mc]

Will anybody be watching next year?

[anniesdad]

Is it not coincidence that the day after its announced a possible ban on smoking in eateries throughout the land that Ecclestone announces the British GP deal is dead?

[tonyhetherington]

I'll be watching next year......

I agree the new qualifying seems a tad rubbish. Surely it's very very similar to the old one, merely changes the day??

The underlying problem of the qualifying still seems apparent

[manek]

Fiddling while Rome burns. Will there be F1 in 10 years' time? Not as we know it, I suspect.

[V8 Archie]

Yep, deckchairs on the Titanic again... except that I'd probably care more* about the Titanic.

* Read: at all

[Chris_w]

Crazy, it's hard enough convincing the other half that the best part of a sunny Sunday afternoon be spent in front of the tv without extending that forward three hours to include final qualifying as well.

Do these people actually sit down and watch the GP's on tv themselves? Do they actually talk to anyone that does?

[timbob]

Seems strange that BE has done this - surely spitting the days means that unless we get an extra long programme, or two separate programmes on the Sunday (unlikely), we'll not be able to see the final, grid deciding qually session...

[rlk500]

Maybe it's not such a dumb move. I think BE has always wanted Sunday qualifying in the morning, as it generates more on track interest for the whole of Sunday for the paying public and means they can dispense with all the "grubby" support races, that they don't really want there anyway. So then they eventually ditch saturday qualifying and end up with a two day Grand Prix, Saturday being the setup day. This then opens the way for more Grand Prix's (which BE wants, but the teams are not keen on) as the teams dont't have the time constraints they have now with the three/four day event.

[McNab]

Eric Mc said:

Will anybody be watching next year?

Will anybody be showing it next year?




I suppose the small print mentions a hundred year contract somewhere!

[canam]

Yes, why is BE apparently doing his best to scupper F1 when he acquired the TV rights for such a ridiculous length of time?
And why did the FIA sell him the rights for such a period?
Chances of fossil fuels being around in 100 years are a bit slim.
I think we should be told.

[Marki]

McNab said:

I suppose the small print mentions a hundred year contract somewhere!

That would not supprise me ,, God how i hate the little Dwarf