Vettel mocks Liberty Media plan to change F1 qualifying

Sebastian Vettel derided Liberty Media's plans to alter the format of qualifying for Formula 1 grands prix, questioning if plans to introduce a fourth session would ultimately extend as far as nine or 10. The introduction of Q4 to Saturday action could be introduced as early as next season.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting this week confirmed reports that F1 is looking to tinker with the knock-out method that has been in place since 2006 – apart from a brief switch to a 'one-by-one' system in 2016 that proved too complicated and was soon shelved.

F1's proposal will reportedly see four cars knocked out in the first three sessions, leaving eight cars to fight for pole position.

Vettel is unconvinced by the need to change the existing structure, but says Liberty should look further back for inspiration.

Vettel said: "I'm just wondering what we will discuss in 10 years' time, whether we will talk about Q9 and Q10?

"Probably not but maybe we should go less. Without going too deep, my personal opinion is nowadays we need too much entertainment to be happy.

Walking the track #JapaneseGP #Seb5 pic.twitter.com/ru4rVmWrHI — Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) October 4, 2018

"I think it would be nice to settle for something less as well.

"My personal preferred qualifying was back in the day where they had one hour and you can do what you want.

"Obviously qualifying for some people will never be as exciting as the race, but for other people it's more exciting than the race, so it depends on your taste.

"I think it's about getting the perfect lap and I don't think it matters how many qualifying sessions you have.

"Now we have three and the one that most people look out for is the last one. So if you have Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7… that's not going to change."

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