Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso, Singapore, 2019

No need for qualifying changes besides tyre rules, says Gasly

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Pierre Gasly isn’t convinced F1 needs to introduce ‘qualifying races’, but would like one aspect of the current format to change.

[dietersinboxpromo]

What they say

Asked about the discussions around testing ‘qualifying races’ at some grands prix next year, Gasly said the only aspect of qualifying he’s unhappy with is the rule forcing drivers who reach Q2 to start the race on old tyres:

I’m pretty happy with the current format. One thing which is always a bit tricky is this Q2 tyre. Sometimes in midfield qualifying with the softest compound when the guys ahead manage to qualify with the medium, for sure it makes even bigger advantage for the guys in front.

So maybe I don’t think the format is a massive problem. The main thing is just to make us race closer to each other. Mainly being able follow other cars closer to improve the racing. But then after I think it’s no problem to try that if they want just to try and see what the outcome [is] because until we try we cannot really know.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

Penalty ballast is another example of F1 trying to fix something which isn’t broken, says @Aussierod:

The current system is fine. Qualifying is fine. The race weekend format is fine. Stop tinkering with the bits that aren’t broken and fix the real issues. An more equitable payment structure, less aero/less turbulence, better tyres, no DRS, tracks that punish mistakes and more than 5 drivers who stand a chance of standing on the podium.

Please.
@Aussierod

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Nick!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

17 comments on “No need for qualifying changes besides tyre rules, says Gasly”

  1. Fully agree with Gasly on this one. Drop the Q2 tire rule. And why not drop as well the mandatory pit stops and the nonsense about 2 compounds per race…sigh, it will never happen, I know.

    1. q2 tyre rule helps the top teams avoid the midfield for the first pitstops. top teams want this rule to stay

  2. Gasly said the only aspect of qualifying he’s unhappy with is the rule forcing drivers who reach Q2 to start the race on old tyres:

    Ummm, isn’t if the drivers who reach Q3 who have to start on the Q2 tires? Q2 runners get to chose their tires for the start.

    1. ‘it’ not ‘if’. Sure would be nice to be able to edit….

  3. Thanks for COTD Keith. First one after many years of enjoying your site. Keep up the great work and content.

    1. Good one, @aussierod. A sentiment shared by many of us and well articulated by you.

      1. Jonathan Parkin
        21st September 2019, 5:03

        In addition can we also drop the engine, gearbox, MCU, wingmirror penalties etc. that causes said qualifying session to be an utter farce when the driver’s qualify in one place but start the race in another. One Italian GP had nearly all the grid start in a different position from where they had qualified

        1. Jonathan Parker (who I can’t tag) the financial situation is equalised and limited then we can certainly consider removing the limit on component usage. But for now it has to stay, however much we hate it. Both in terms of how it would favour the big teams and how the wastage would damage the image of the sport we do not need a return to single-use qualifying engines.

          @aussierod great COTD. Is probably also “sentiment of the decade”. Perhaps we can collectively bombard the official F1 twitter account with a screen shot?

    2. Great COTD @aussierod echos the sentiment of most of us. Unfortunately the closer we get to the end of October the more of these silly ideas seem to be surfacing.

      One wonders whether or not they’re smokescreens designed to distract people from something that hasn’t surfaced yet.

  4. Agree with COTD. Although the competitiveness of the field is dire at the moment, the purity does remain.

    Any kind of success ballast or reverse grid races just ruins the whole history side of things for me.

    Find a way to get one of the teams outside of the top 3 to somehow win a race within the confines of the current format – that should be the basic goal.

    It’s kind of like rooting for your favorite baseball team to get back to the playoffs after a long drought. Some major financial changes, the test of time….and some luck, and it just could happen.

    But geez don’t ever change the same basic format that’s been around forever, or it won’t mean the same.

    1. We’ve been through a lot of periods where competitivness has been dire over the years but things always seem to balance out eventually. Unfortunately that’s usually when they do a major regulation change that spreads things out again.

      Hopefully this next change may help providing budget caps are set and enforced correctly.

  5. I agree. The GP-weekend format itself doesn’t need changing; it’s fine as it is as has been pointed out before by many, but I wouldn’t be against dropping the Q2-tyre rule, giving everyone the freedom to choose the race-starting tyre set rather than just the latter half of the field.

    Regarding the COTD: Out of the suggestions/wishes there, the first two are all that’s really needed, the rest would follow suit except maybe for the ‘tracks that punish mistakes’ part, but that isn’t hugely necessary.

  6. The new Aussie s5000 seems to have a live stream of their first weekend on motorsports.tv. It’s looks a charmingly garagista effort and the cars look fun to drive. 550HP V8 on a 900kg chassis and a really throwback tire stagger back to front. And the drivers seem to thoroughly enjoy themselves, smiles all around. I stand corrected, it’s not F3. Well, it is, but Aussified 😁
    The feature race is livestreamed tomorrow morning. The s5000 could take the IndyCar Gold Coast spot, and they are already confirmed as the support race for the 25th Australian GP.

    1. Please, can we just get an edit button…. It’s streaming at https://eu.motorsport.tv and it’s free

      1. Well, that needs to be encouraged @uneedafinn2win, I made a free account on that site (though who knows what will happen if they are taken over/sold/go out of business …)

  7. Indycar not looking at Gold Coast but might be looking at Yas Marina?!

    It’s got me thinking about what races outside North America Indycar should be looking at. Brazil definitely. Japan again, yes. UK? Yes please! OK they’ve done Rockingham and Brands Hatch (indy) so how about Donington Park?

  8. That Motorsport Magazine article about Ferrari’s power advantage really is a very solid, factual, clear and well done article, leaving little questions and answering most others. Apart from the one everyone else would like an answer to, of course, which is: How did they do it. But that can be forgiven, w/o industrial espionage, I think.

Comments are closed.