The qualifying races return to the debates

Some cry sporting heresy, others believe that the exceptional nature of the 2020 season should encourage F1 to try the experience: qualifying races reappeared in discussions between decision-makers in the discipline at the end of last week, as revealed by our British colleague Mark Hughes.

The idea is to bring a little variety and unexpectedness to a deeply revised calendar including the European portion revealed this morning plans several double meetings, namely two races in a row on the same route. 

This is particularly the case for Austria, which will host the start of the season on July 5 at Red Bull Ring, before repeating it in the same place 7 days later. Ditto on August 2 and 9 at Silverstone in the United Kingdom.

Concretely, the qualifying session for the second meeting would take place in the form of a race whose grid would be established according to the reverse order of the Drivers' World Championship. The classification of this round of around thirty minutes would then be used to set the starting order for the Grand Prix the next day. 

The format would only be used on circuits where F1 is expected to occur several times this season, with a double meeting in Bahrain also being anticipated at the end of the year.   

Although the concept garnered a majority of support from the teams, unanimity was not achieved. At the forefront of the opponents is Mercedes. The six-time world champion team says it is philosophically against the measure but still asked for more time to study the issue. Mercedes believes that this would amount to asking Usain Bolt to start 5 meters behind his competitors in the 100m final, under the pretext that the Jamaican legend has the ability to catch up with them. 

It is also rumored that Racing Point has reportedly expressed its disapproval. A position that regrets Christian Horner. 

“We are in a unique situation this year where we are going to have two races on the same circuit several times, it is the ideal scenario to try new things at the second meeting, declared the main Red Bull Racing team on Sky Sports. 

Otherwise, unless the weather changes, we will probably have the same result in both races. The proposal received a majority of support. The only person who wasn't really thrilled was Toto (Wolff, main team Mercedes) because he believes that this would disrupt Lewis's quest for a 7th world title (Hamilton) by adding too much of the unexpected.” 

Ross Brawn, sporting director of Liberty Media, has often repeated in recent months that the format of Grand Prix weekends was set to change in the near future. Last year, the concept of qualifying races was almost adopted with a view to a full-scale test in a few races from 2020, but the project collapsed in the final stretch. Will the current crisis push opponents to review their positions?

Time is running out because such a decision must necessarily be adopted and translated into the FIA ​​regulations by the start of the season.