canspice.org

Formula 1 has a survey up asking fans for their opinions on what next year’s qualifying format should look like. This season we’ve seen two qualifying formats. The first one had drivers go out on Saturday in the reverse order of how they finished in the previous Grand Prix (so the first place driver would go out last), then go again on Sunday morning in the reverse order of their times in the Saturday qualifying session. The grid would be decided by the drivers’ aggregate times.

That was changed a few races ago. Instead of having two qualifying sessions, they dropped the Sunday morning session and just used the Saturday session.

The first proposed format has the drivers go out and do as many laps as they can in two 25-minute sessions separated by a 10-minute break. The best times from each session are added together to give a final qualifying time that determines the grid order. There would be no restrictions on fuel.

The second proposed format puts the drivers out for a 60-minute session, but after the first 15 minutes, the slowest five drivers would be taken out. After 30 minutes, the next slowest five drivers would be removed, leaving ten drivers to battle it out for the remaining top ten positions on the grid. Again, there would be no fuel restrictions.

You can vote on the proposed Formula 1 qualifying formats or vote to keep the current format.

Pitpass is saying that Bernie Ecclestone would be surprised if the second format wasn’t in place in 2006. The story says that the voting is closed, but I was able to vote five minutes ago. For the record, I picked the second format.