Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are in agreement when it comes to the proposal of a new qualifying system being considered by F1 chiefs.
The second qualifying session in Sochi, Russia last month saw no real battle for the top 10 places on the grid from those further down the pack.
This has prompted F1 bigwigs to consider proposals on how to change the race weekend format to give drivers a fairer shot at achieving success on a Saturday.
Ross Brawn claims a fourth knockout stage may be created, meaning only four drivers would be eliminated from Q1 and Q2 instead of five, while another four would drop out at Q3, leaving the remaining eight stars battling it out for the top spots.
The F1 chief claims no agreement is in place just yet – something which will please Verstappen.
“I would keep it like it is,” he said – “Otherwise you are running so much it’s just more and more practice.
”I think qualifying should be a shorter session where you don’t have that many opportunities to do a lap otherwise what’s qualifying for? It’s just another practice session where everybody can get into a rhythm.
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“What I always understood in qualifying is that you have to go out, have a few shots at it and that’s it.
“But if you start to do more and more and more everybody at one point starts to do a good lap.”
Vettel also spoke out against the plans before the Japanese Grand Prix last week.
“I’m just wondering what we will discuss in 10 years’ time, whether we will talk about Q9 and Q10?” he said at the FIA Drivers’ press conference in Japan this week.
“Probably not but maybe we should go less.
“Without going too deep, my personal opinion is nowadays we need too much entertainment to be happy.
“I think it would be nice to settle for something less as well.
“My personal preferred qualifying was back in the day where they had one hour and you can do what you want.
“Obviously qualifying for some people will never be as exciting as the race, but for other people it’s more exciting than the race, so it depends on your taste. I think it’s about getting the perfect lap and I don’t think it matters how many qualifying sessions you have. Now we have three and the one that most people look out for is the last one. So if you have Q4, Q5, Q6, Q7, that’s not going to change.” – Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel concluded.
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