Now that Super Aguri have withdrawn from F1, qualifying has been altered to reflect 2 less cars.

Today the FIA have confirmed that 5 cars will be eliminated in both Q1 and Q2 to even things out so that 10 cars remain and challenge for pole in Q3. The sporting regulations were initially written for a field of 24 cars with a plan B if the field dropped to 22. Now that the field is officially 20 cars, plan C had to be written.

The statement from the FIA was this:

“The Stewards, having received a report from the Technical Delegate note that 20 cars will participate in the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix.

“Therefore under article 33.1 of the 2008 Sporting Regulations, the Stewards have decided that only five cars will be excluded after Q1 and Q2 of the Qualifying Practice.”

That’s the news, and now the weather:

Tags: f1 qualifying, fia, grand prix weather, turkish grand prix

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In a final note before Christmas is upon us, the FIA have released the final word on their tweak to qualifying in 2008. I posted a early speculation here about what changes may be in store. Here is the final verdict:

The changes suggested in that article will also prevent teams from refueling their cars to levels started in Q3. This means all Q3 drivers will begin each race with the amount of fuel remaining in their cars at the end of qualifying. Others who did not make it to Q3 will be able to choose whatever fuel load they wish. Just as before.

That’s it.Tags: f1 qualifying, new F1 qualifying rules

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Qualifying looks to be changing again, only this time just slightly. Soon after in 2006 when F1 qualifying was split into 3 15 minute sections, concerns were raised when the final 10 teams in the final 15 minute pole shootout phase began spending a lot of time driving around burning off fuel in effort to make the car as light as possible. The main concern was ‘image’ in that environmentally, this was just not good and completely unnecessary.

Now, the Spanish Press are reporting that the FIA are about to tweak qualifying in that the final 15 minute qualifying phase would be shortened by 5 minutes and that 5 minutes added onto the first qualifying phase, effectively making it now 20 minutes. The object is to remove ‘fuel burning’ time from the final phase and force teams to get on with posting fast times. This will be a little more environmentally correct and add the challenge and excitement it was designed for. In turn, with the stolen 5 minutes being added to the first qualifying phase, more time would be given to drivers to post a ‘best time’ to get into the second phase and keep their tails off the back of the grid.

Tags: 2008 Qualifying, f1 qualifying

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