2006 F1 kickoff this weekend

[mavss]

Bahrain opens the 2006 season this weekend, followed by Malaysia the following week.

Don't forget Channel 10 are televising the Qualifying round tonight at 1:25 AEST, which has been revised from last year.

[Ghosn]

Thanks for the heads up and perfect in the fact we have a public holiday on Monday :bravo:

[GMH-TWR]

Can't wait, the new qualifying format will be awesome to watch

[Ghosn]

How does the new format work?

[LT8888]

How does the new format work?


Copied from ITV-F1.com


New Qualifying

There’s no question the new F1 qualifying is complicated, but at least it won’t be boring. Here are a few things to bear in mind when you tune in on Saturday.

There are three heats in a 60-minute session. At the end of the first heat the slowest six cars are eliminated. At the end of the second, the next slowest six are knocked out.

And in the last 20-minute session the ten remaining cars battle it out for pole position.


Heat 1 (of 3)

The first heat is quite straightforward. Everyone will try to nail one hot lap on low fuel.

You don’t want to be doing lots of laps as 22 cars will all be trying to qualify for the next session simultaneously and traffic will be an issue in this 15-minute session.

Doing the fewest laps will also minimise tyre and engine mileage.

The three slowest teams (who are about to get knocked out) could use a set of new tyres to try and mug one of the midfield teams who are running the heats on old tyres, trying to save new sets.

A new set of tyres can give a car a couple of seconds extra per lap, which could promote a slow car into the second heat.


Heat 2

This involves the top 16 cars, and they all start again.

Traffic will still be an issue, but you’d expect drivers from the top five teams - Renault, McLaren, Honda, Ferrari and one of Toyota/Williams - to be going through to the third session.


Tactical Joker 1: Benefits of being a Drop-out

If you’re 11th or lower, you don’t have to decide your fuel load in advance. You can wait until qualifying is over, sit down and look at the cars in front of you and come up with whatever strategy you like.

At some tracks, that will be the thing to do.

So during Heat 2 there may be some interesting tactics involved if a team’s engineers decide that qualifying 11th, and having the freedom to start with whatever fuel load they fancy for the race, is more advantageous than qualifying 10th and starting with a pre-determined fuel load.

Only problem then is making sure you don’t progress to the third session (super-pole)!


Possible ****-ups

Drivers now have to finish their laps before the chequered flag comes out.

So no more of those old ‘crossing the line to start the lap with two seconds to go before the end of the session’ jobs.

Get your lap finished before the end of the heat.

Yellow flags also present an opportunity for a ****-up.

If you leave your one lap till late in the 15 minutes, being forced to back off for someone else’s accident could see your effort ruined with no time to try for another.


Tyre use

Each car has seven sets of tyres. Ideally, you’d want to keep three sets of new tyres for the race – one for the start, and one for each of your stops.

It follows that drivers going for three stop strategies would want four new sets, meaning they’d have to use just three sets of tyres for practice and qualifying.

We’ll keep on top of who has the advantage in terms of new tyres.


Super-pole session

The rules say the remaining ten cars have to begin the last 20 minute session with the amount of fuel they want to start the race with, let’s say 60kg, and they’re allowed to refuel back to that level before the race.

But naturally, all that weight will slow them down, and they only want the bare minimum of fuel in the car when they do their last qualifying lap - around 10kg.

That means we’re going to see 10 cars chugging round, each one deliberately burning off enough petrol to keep a family car on the road for a fortnight!

As an aside, at a time when world fuel prices are going through the roof and nations are struggling to control their greenhouse gas emissions this organised waste of petrol is not going to sit at all well with the public, never mind the environmental lobby.

Isn’t this a PR disaster waiting to happen?

Once the 10 cars have burned off enough petrol, more often than not, they will come back into the pits, put on a new set of tyres, and go out to deliver one brilliant lap.

If they mess it up, that might be tough – the new tyres will have delivered their best performance, and they won’t have enough fuel for another try.

So in a sense, it’s still single lap qualifying…


Tactical Joker 2

If a driver from one of the smaller teams does a brilliant lap to make it through the heats, he may be best advised not to run in the last session.

He’s not likely to move up too many places from 10th, and would get more benefit from saving a new set of tyres for the race.


Fuel Credit

You’ll hear us talking about fuel credits. This is the FIA deciding on a standard amount of fuel consumption per lap.

It will be around two or 3kg, depending on the circuit.

The FIA will count how many laps each car has done in the super-pole session and give them back that amount in petrol.

For example: say 3kg is the agreed fuel consumption per lap, and the car did 15 laps, that means the team will refill the car with 45kg petrol before the start of the race.

Of course one trick would be for a car to troll round, using a small amount of petrol, only to be given back more than they used from the FIA, gaining an advantage.

But the FIA is already wise to that one – each lap will only be given a fuel credit if it is within 110% of that car’s fastest lap.


Weather & Track conditions

We saw a handful of wet qualifying sessions last year, and it is obvious that a wet track will see everyone trying to set a time at the end of a heat when the track is drying out.

Similarly, if rain is expected, they will all rush out to get laps in the bank while it is still dry.

In both cases, the teams who can best manage their drivers through traffic will be successful. If qualifying is wet, at least cars will be able to save dry tyres for the race.

You would also expect that the best dry track conditions will be at the end of a session, when most rubber has been laid down, giving the best grip.

Again, finding a bit of clear track at the end of a session will be key.

Teams with the most sophisticated car-tracking computer programmes and drivers who can find themselves space will be at an advantage.


Strategies & Impact on the Race

Cars that run in the super-pole session will be on lighter fuel loads than those behind them, which means making earlier stops.

Because they are fast and light, many of the top 10 will try to break away from the pack so that they can make their first stop and still exit the pits still ahead of the chasing bunch.

In other words the lighter cars will need to protect their position relative to cars starting behind them who are on ‘ideal’ (heavier fuelled) strategies.

So strategies are now one-stop, then flexible, for the top ten. The second and even third pit stops may fluctuate significantly as cars try to gain or maintain track position.

By the same token, those eliminated in the heats will be driving with heavier fuel loads than their competitors in order to make up track position during the race, by running further in the first stint, or even making fewer pit stops.

But to do this they will need suitable tyres, which will need to be harder than those used by the front-running cars.

This is a lot to digest – all will become clearer when we see it in practice over the next few weeks.


One final thought…

It’s all going to be about tyres.

While driving round and round to burn off fuel in the super-pole session may save you a second, bolting on new tyres will give you two seconds or more, so fuel load is no longer the key to race strategy.

With shorter-life tyres, tyre degradation is now higher, and affects the strategic decision-making – because after a certain number of laps, the time delay of pitting for new tyres, is less than that of continuing to run old tyres with less performance.

As such, the ‘ideal stint length’ will be dictated by how knackered your tyres get, rather than just fuel load.

[GMH-TWR]

The first heat will be interesting, 22 cars on the track at the same time. Will be hard to set a quick time with all the traffic and slow teams like Torro Rosso, Midland and that new Asian team Super Aguri

[seedyrom]

and they're back to changing tyres during the race ?

[matt.vzss]

Ferrari Take All Pole Position With Schumacher And Then Massa, Aussie Webber Comes In Very Reasonable 7th Position.

[GMH-TWR]

Should be interesting to see what strategy certain teams are on and if Ferrari were running light on fuel

[mavss]

Channel 10 telecasting the qualifying was a bonus - I also found it quite entertaining as opposed to last season's single car qualifying.

[RedVX2]

Channel 10 telecasting the qualifying was a bonus - I also found it quite entertaining as opposed to last season's single car qualifying.
I thought the first two knockout sessions were great. Only thing I thought was a little boring was the first part of the final session where the cars were just going around for laps to run down the fuel load prior to the final fling on light fuel.
Go Webber!

[GMH-TWR]

Not a bad race, Raikonnen did well to go from rear of the grid to third. Couldn't believe how slow Toyota were

[GMH-TWR]

Also, young Nico Rosberg did an awesome job in his first race. Looks like his got plenty of talent.

[scat2k3]

Also, young Nico Rosberg did an awesome job in his first race. Looks like his got plenty of talent.

That was a highlight. Fantastic drive for his first outing.