Barrichello wants to rethink the qualifying format

A few weeks ago, in the pages of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Jarno Trulli stated that the short lifespan of Pirelli tires had diminished the appeal of qualifying sessions.

After the Spanish Grand Prix, the Italian confirms his point of view in the same newspaper: “Drivers are more focused on preserving a set of tires than on making a fast lap, and during the race, the reason becomes obvious. Whoever has more tires wins.”

Indeed, after suffering from tire failure in Malaysia, Lewis Hamilton decided in China to sacrifice his chances of pole position by qualifying on a single run, thereby saving a new set of tires that partly enabled him to triumph the next day. Three weeks later, after both setting the fastest times at the start of Q3, the Red Bull drivers decided to forego a second run, risking Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg displacing Mark Webber from the front row. In the race, this strategy paid off for the Australian, who managed to overtake Fernando Alonso at the end of the race on fresh soft tires, while the Spaniard was on worn tires.

According to Rubens Barrichello, some major teams might seriously consider using hard tires in qualifying, dropping to 16th or 17th position, and benefiting from three sets of new soft tires for the race. Depending on the track, this could prove to be the best solution.

Thus, in Spain, although he qualified in the last position on the grid, Nick Heidfeld was able to climb back through a good part of the field and finish the race in 7th place, thanks to the three sets of new unused soft tires from the day before in qualifying. Mark Webber experienced the same fate in China after failing to qualify in Q2 with his hard tires, benefiting from all the new soft tires available to climb up to the 3rd step of the podium in the race.

Several solutions could be considered to restore interest in the qualifications, whether by modifying the tire allocation – currently 11 sets for the whole weekend, including three sets of hard tires and three sets of soft tires for qualification and the race – or by awarding points in qualifications to encourage drivers and teams to play along.

For Rubens Barrichello, the qualifying system simply needs to be rethought: The tires are different from what we had last year, so it would be worth considering a change in the qualifying format, although I think it is very good, says the Brazilian, who is considering a return to the old format where drivers would go out for a series of three laps: one flying lap for two out-laps and in-laps.

I think the format has been rather good in recent years, but we’re just doing a relay now, so it’s worth seeing if there’s something else to do next year.