Shambolic Saturday in Australia

Qualifying Shambles

Image from:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/11570492/Australian-Grand-Prix-set-for-April-date-as-2016-F1-season-gets-pushed-back.html

Formula 1's new elimination style qualifying system was nothing more than a total failure. It was an intriguing concept and one that seemed would work on paper, but when put into practise, it was an absolute shambles. The teams gave off the impression that they didn't understand how the system worked, with a lot of drivers not even having enough time to complete a lap when on the brink of elimination. The camera's would also only focus on the driver that was on the brink of elimination, so the fans were deprived of seeing stunning laps from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. What was also frustrating for the fans, was the lack of graphics indicating the time left before elimination occurred, although this was rectified during the session. On top of this, we saw drivers exiting cars when the they still involved in the session, but were timed out due to errors by the teams. To top this shambolic start to the season, we had the top eight shoot out finish with four minutes or so remaining! Both Ferrari's only ran once and then got their drivers out the car, not posing any more threat to the Mercedes pair, who ran twice and then left the car. Fans were left with no action for the final four minutes of qualifying, which is simply shocking. This new system was meant to shake up a Saturday, to add a bit of spice ready for Sunday. All it has given is give a dwindling audience another reason to dwindle. It produced nothing along the lines of excitement, and it was seemingly just like the grid fans and pundits would have predicted before the start of the weekend. Thankfully discussions will take place tomorrow between F1 bosses to discuss different alternatives to the new system.