Fernando Alonso among top F1 drivers plotting MASSIVE qualifying upheaval

Fernando Alonso got the better of soccer Iker Casillas in their TikTok spat — Photo: © LAT Images

Austrian Grand Prix

Alonso among top F1 drivers plotting MASSIVE qualifying upheaval

The Spaniard has suggested an alternative format to the qualifying session

Lauren Sneath

Friday 30 June 2023 14:12

Fernando Alonso has led calls from F1 drivers for an alteration to qualification sessions on short circuits, to avoid drivers accidentally impeding one another as they attempt to set fast laps.

As qualifying is currently structured, there can be any number of drivers on track at once and though cars on slow laps are meant to keep out of the way of those setting hot laps, accidents can happen.

Speaking to the press ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, Aston Martin driver Alonso was backed by Carlos Sainz as he suggested a qualifying session with only a single driver on the track at once.

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Alonso said of the qualifying issue: “Yeah, it is a topic every weekend and especially in short circuits. I don't know. There are a few options to improve this: one is single-lap qualifying, like in the past.

“That would be ideal, in my opinion, because only one car on track and full TV coverage for that lap, for everyone’s sponsors and things like that.

“And that created a little bit of drama in case of weather changes in between qualifiers, you could see in pole position different cars, different names. So that was, I think, my preferred option. You can split the grid like junior formulas, they do in Monaco, and things like that.”

Sainz’s support

Sainz appeared to agree with his compatriot’s plan. The Ferrari driver also suggested a short-term solution, which would involve dividing the grid into two groups to qualify with only 10 cars on track at once.

He said: “Yeah, I think the shorter-term solution would be to at least do Q1 on a split: 10 cars, one from each team in a qualifying group. Then, I think by Q2, the traffic already improves quite a bit. Q3 is not a problem.

“So, it would be only short tracks, Q1s maybe. Divide the session by half and do eight minutes with one group, eight minutes with another group. Anyway, it shouldn't affect, because the performance of the cars is split.

“And yeah, that's the shorter-term solution. The single-lap qualifying is maybe something to experiment with, as Fernando said.

“Also, maybe in Sprint weekends, to try, if it would work. I personally, was a big fan of it. Because I do like that feeling of suddenly having the whole track for you and having the pressure to perform only in one lap.”

Sainz acknowledged that his alteration proposals might not be interesting for viewers, and suggested the addition of a ghost car of the leader overlayed on screen so audiences can see the gap from the top.

He continued: “I think that would be really good fun for us, I think for our sponsors, and for everyone. But maybe for the TV would be a bit boring for you. But I don't know, depends on the technology. You also have to animate that single lap.

“If you could put a ghost car of the fastest lap, I think with the technology that we have, nowadays, something like that could be achievable, with the mini-sectors, with a ghost car, with that kind of stuff that I think we should look into.”

Close call

At the recent Spanish Grand Prix, the difficulty of judging when to overtake in qualifying was shown as Mercedes driver George Russell was given a warning after colliding with his teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Russell had let Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz pass and was beginning his own lap, but was not aware that his team-mate was starting a hot lap behind him.

Luckily, both Mercedes cars made it to the race (and the podium) at the Spanish Grand Prix

At the time, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said of the incident: “It’s all down to a miscommunication because drivers in the same team don’t want to crash into each other on their final lap in qualifying,” he said.

“So it was just an unfortunate situation that George just launched a lap and Lewis saw it as his last opportunity and didn’t think that George was on that lap.”