OCTOBER 20, 2004

A new qualifying system?

The F1 Commission is being asked to vote through a new qualifying system for next year.

The F1 Commission is being asked to vote through a new qualifying system for next year.

The proposal is for two qualifying sessions: the first between 13:00 to 14:00 on Saturday and the second from 10:00 to 11:00 on Sunday. The first session is single lap qualifying, with the cars going out in th reverse order of their finishing positions at the previous race. The second session is also single lap qualifying, with the cars going out in the reverse order of the qualifying on Saturday. The cars run on Saturday with unrestricted fuel. They then go into parc ferme after this qualifying session and for the Sunday qualifying session they run with race fuel, having been allowed to refuel before the second qualifying session. They are not allowed to refuel again before the race starts. The times of the two sessions are then added together to determine the grid, with the lowest aggregate time being given pole position.