A number of senior drivers have suggested single-lap qualifying could be re-introduced to solve the issue of traffic and impeding on short grand prix circuits.
The Canadian Grand Prix saw multiple investigations into impeding, with Carlos Sainz given a grid penalty for getting in Pierre Gasly’s way towards the end of the lap. The main issues tend to occur with all 20 cars on track in Q1 on shorter venues, and Fernando Alonso believes a return to single-lap qualifying could also lead to mixed-up grids.
“It is a topic every weekend, especially on short circuits,” Alonso said. “There are a few options to improve this. One is single-lap qualifying like in the past. That would be ideal in my opinion because there’s only one car on track and full TV coverage for that lap for everyone’s sponsors and things like that, and that created a little bit of drama in case the weather changed during qualifying, you could see different cars on pole position, different names. So I think that’s my preferred option.
“You can split the grid like they do in junior formulas in Monaco and things like that, but this is a topic now.”
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Sainz agreed with Alonso, although he believes if a quicker fix is required then splitting Q1 into two equal groups would be the way to go.
“I think the shorter-term solution would be to split Q1 into 10 cars, one from each team — qualifying groups,” Sainz said. “Then I think in Q2 the track already improved quite a bit, Q3 is not a problem. So it would only be for short tracks, divide the [Q1] session by half and do eight minutes with one group. If you are in another group it shouldn’t affect you anyway because the performance of the cars are split. That’s a shorter-term solution.
“The single-lap qualifying is maybe something to experiment with also maybe on sprint weekends to try if it would work. I personally was a big fan of it because I like the feeling of having the whole track for you and having the pressure to perform only on one lap. That would be really good fun for us, for our sponsors and everyone. Maybe for the TV it would be a bit boring for you, but I don’t know.
“It depends on the technology you also have to animate that single lap. If you put a ‘ghost car’ of the fastest lap, I think with the technology we have nowadays something like that could be achievable with the mini-sectors, with the ghost cars, with that kind of stuff. I think we should look into it.”
However, Max Verstappen was against the idea of single-lap qualifying, stating it would make for unfair track conditions with those running last likely to get higher levels of grip.
“It’s quite cool but again there’s also track evolution, so I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” Verstappen said. “There’s always traffic but this is Formula 1 as well, you just have to try and manage it. Some tracks of course are a bit better than others, but it’s a tricky one.”
Nico Hulkenberg believes the problem of traffic is caused by specific teams and the way they handle the busier sessions in qualifying.
“Some tracks are more difficult than others but I also feel that some teams and drivers are better than others and pay more attention and some less,” Hulkenberg said. “Some create the situations more than others. I personally like how our qualifying is — I think it’s quite good to watch, it’s quite good fun from inside the car, so I’m pretty happy.”