Webber: Qualifying should be about phenomenal laps

Nine times grand prix winner Mark Webber is somewhat mystified by the fact that Formula 1 will stick to the much lamented musical chairs qualifying format which made it's debut at the season opening Australian Grand Prix and turned out to be a flop.

The Australian who is part of Channel 4 panel of F1 experts spoke ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, “Yes it does [come as a shock]. I thought we were leaving Melbourne in good shape with a decision to go back to a system which was working pretty well."

“But that's not the case and we are back to the Melbourne scenario which even at its best it will struggle to equal what we had," lamented Webber who enjoyed 42 podium finishes in a career that spanned 215 grand prix starts.

“For me the beef I've got is we are still focusing on the driver that's on the bubble or the driver that's slow trying to get into that session. Now with all due respect we are focusing on Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez or young Esteban Gutierrez, now that's fine. But we've also got to be focusing on the laps the big boys are doing to form the first few rows of the grid.

“The best [qualifying session] that suits the drivers doesn't always suit the commercial rights holders and the best one I had was four sets of tyres and a one hour session – and those sets of tyres didn't have to be used for the race either."

“So many things have changed since then. And we still need to keep explaining the sport. We have to say there are ramifications from a qualifying session that hurts tomorrow's race. It's just all talk..."

“When we switch a TV on it should be this is qualifying, who has the fastest lap time in the tank in terms of the driver pushing absolute commitment and do a phenomenal lap? And if you can go a tenth quicker. I want to go back out and respond," who qualified on pole 13 times during his F1 career.

“And that was the problem in Melbourne, people couldn't respond as there wasn't enough tyres or enough time. Now we've gone way too far and drivers are pigeon holed and restricted into operational running times they don't always want,” explained straight-talking Webber.

And concluded, “I don't mind the Q1, Q2, Q3 format. The big boys always had to do a time and that seemed to have worked pretty good in the last few years.”

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Formula 1 rule makers introduced a new qualifying format for the 2016 F1 world championship season starting in Melbourne. The session ran and it will be of interest to gauge feedback from our readers.
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