A new qualifying format tested at Imola

Currently, during each Grand Prix, the number of sets of tires available per driver is 13 (2 Hard, 3 Medium and 8 Soft). It may drop to 11 (3 Hard, 4 Medium and 4 Soft) in the future. This new allocation will be tested during two Grands Prix this season.

A new distribution which will be accompanied by a change in the format of the qualifications. It is at Imola (May 19-21) that the first experiment should take place with drivers forced to use an imposed type of rubber while they are normally free to use the tires they want during the three parts of the race. the session. With this new format, they will have to use Hard tires in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and Softs in Q3.

If one of the sessions is declared “wet”, the choice will then become free again. Six sets of tires will be available for qualifying, and the other five will have to be split between free practice and the race.

After the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix (no official communication has yet come to confirm the choice of Imola), the second experiment should not take place before the summer. Pirelli and the teams will thus have time to analyze the data and decide on the relevance of the format and its formal adoption from the 2024 season.

Pilots not convinced

But already, even before this first test has taken place, skepticism prevails among the pilot community. “ I hope it won't be cold in Imola, otherwise it will be quite tricky, was ironic Max Verstappen in Bahrain. Honestly, I don't think we need to do this kind of thing in qualifying. I don't really see the point. It's better to make sure all the cars are close together rather than always trying to find gimmicks to spice things up. »

The facts seem to prove the author of Sakhir's pole right since less than a second separated the first 17 cars in Q1. The top 10 in Q2 were grouped in 0''845 and the battle for pole was decided at 0''138, the gap between the Dutchman and his teammate Sergio Pérez. Which makes the latter say that there is really no need to change the current format.

« We don't need this, affirmed Czech. When you see the qualifying we had in Bahrain, how close it was, I don't see where the need for change is! »

Charles Leclerc, 3rd on the grid in Bahrain, doesn't see it either, even if he is not against the idea of ​​a test. “ I don't really see the point, breathed the spearhead of the Team. But let's try anyway and we'll see. »

On the pilots' side, the road still seems long before accession.