Bojan Vrbnjak
Current qualification format Formula 1 It has been in existence since 2006. This also includes the rule of tires, which should give the racers who dropped out in the first and second part of the qualifications an advantage: These racers have a free choice of tires and thus have much more playing space in strategies. on the race. But Antonio Giovinazzi, team racer Alfa Romeo, calls this rule into question.
The Italian is mainly bothered by the fact that racers who managed to jump in Q3 have to start on used tires from Q2. “I’d say it’s not exactly the best rule to let racers start on Q2 tires."Because of this, the spectators are already witnessing tactical games in the second part of the qualifications. Top teams want to get in the top ten with a harder mix of tires in most cases, which is why they have an advantage in the first stint of the race, as they can theoretically stay on the track longer.
However, the midfield teams cannot help themselves with the desire to qualify for the third part of the qualifications, as in this case their speed drops sharply. In the case of the last race for Hungarian GP this was exactly the case. The first six racers from the top three teams started the race in the middleweight division, the remaining four places were occupied by midfielders (Sainz, Norris, Raikkonen and Grosjean) and they had to start the race on used soft compound tires.
"With this, for the most part, you automatically start with the wrong strategy and that’s not a good thing. I hope this is also on the list of changes in 2021. However, this is not my opinion, it would be interesting to see what Pirelli thinks about this,Says Giovinazzi. At the Hungaroring, they were counting on good chances to win points in particular Nico Hulkenberg in Alexander Albon, who took eleventh and twelfth place in the qualifications. At the start, the middleweight racers were in a subordinate position.
At the end of the race, Sainz (soft-hard mix), Raikkonen (soft-medium) and Norris (soft-hard) managed to score points, yet Giovinazzi remains with his critique. “This year, the fight in the middle of the field is so close that if a team has a small advantage with tires, then this one is in front of you. Maybe the difference has been bigger over the years."
