A shake-up to the qualifying format has been given the go-ahead by all 11 teams on the grid, meaning it must now be approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
That’s likely to be a formality and therefore it’s almost guaranteed to be in place before the Australian Grand Prix in under 20 days time.
During a meeting in Bahrain last week, the teams convened to discuss how to stop drivers sitting out Q3 in order to save tyres. A number of changes were put forward, but it’s believed they’ve now unanimously decided upon a couple of tweaks.
Q1 will now last 18 minutes, two less than previously, whilst Q2 will remain at 15 minutes and the final top-ten shootout, Q3, will be extended by two minutes to 12 in total.
The 16 cars which make it though to Q2 will receive an extra set of option (softer) tyres, but these tyres can only be used during Q3 – so those who don’t progress will get to keep them for the race, but those who do make it into the top-ten shoot-out must use the additional options to set their final time, but must then hand them back to Pirelli after.
Those in Q3 will then start the race on the tyre in which they set their fastest lap on in Q2.
This ensures that all the cars in Q3 are competing on the same tyre, without the incentive to stay in the garage, but the strategic element of starting on the prime (harder) option remains a possibility if they choose to use that tyre in Q2.
It also gives those starting outside the top-ten an additional set of new tyres. Those in Q2 get to keep the additional set which Q3 runners had to hand back, whilst the bottom six cars will have used less tyres in the first place.
The change is likely to be confirmed ahead of the next pre-season test in Bahrain next week.
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