F1 warned to stay clear of "boring" duel qualifying

Formula 1

F1 warned to stay clear of "boring" duel qualifying

Formula E has introduced an innovative format this year

Ewan Gale

Friday 29 April 2022 09:10 Updated: 12:02

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Alex Albon hopes F1 will shy away from qualifying formats like Formula E's new duel system after labelling the initiative "quite boring".

F1 has attempted to shake up its weekend format in recent times, with elimination qualifying unsuccessfully introduced last decade before being quickly replaced.

The sprint has been more successful, with the F1 teams agreeing to an increase from three to six events for next year that see qualifying moved to Friday before a 100km race determines the grand prix grid.

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The electric single-seater world championship has introduced a knockout-tournament format that sees the top eight from two groups of qualifying battle head-to-head in individual flying-lap battles through quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final.

Asked if this could be implemented instead of the sprint, Williams driver Albon replied: "I think it would be quite boring for the ones who are at the back every time.

"You might get a lot of the same cars constantly in...what is it, the top eight? Formula E is a little bit more unpredictable in that sense.

"You can have a bit more one-on-ones with different teams and different drivers, but F1 is a little bit more routine in that way.

"I don't think it would add anything. But it's maybe up to these guys [F1 and the FIA]."

Zhou feels duels "very long"

Formula E's disparity in performance across the field is far smaller than the corresponding difference in F1, with the unpredictability in the series lending itself to the duel format.

Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou was alongside Albon during the line of questioning and offered his own thoughts on the idea.

"I watched it for the first time, I don't want to watch it again because it was so long!" he said.

"I felt it was very long, you know, just to see who was on pole, because you have two cars, two cars, always fighting for just going through to the next stage.

"So I think it won't work, like Alex said, there’s too much car performance difference here. So it wouldn't be fair to anyone anyway."

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes