Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
During Thursday’s press conferences ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, drivers opined on traffic problems and potential solutions
Formula 1 drivers have a lot to worry about during qualifying. They have to worry about the weather conditions, tyre wear, whether the setup is right on the car, and of course, making sure they are as fast as possible during each session.
However, there is another concern they have to endure, something that almost everyone reading this can identify with.
Traffic.
Particularly in the first qualifying session, when all 20 drivers are participating, it can be hard to find the right spot on the track for your push lap. That can be tougher still on certain circuits, such as the streets of Monte Carlo ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, or as we saw two weeks ago at the Canadian Grand Prix.
In fact, qualifying at both grands prix saw drivers handed penalties for impeding. In Monaco, Charles Leclerc was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris. Then at the Canadian Grand Prix it was Carlos Sainz Jr. given a penalty, this time for impeding Pierre Gasly.
This may be an even bigger issue at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend. Not only is Red Bull Ring the shortest track on the schedule, but with two qualifying sessions — one on Friday for the Grand Prix itself and the “Sprint Shootout” Saturday ahead of the F1 Sprint — traffic could be a problem.
During Thursday’s press conferences, drivers spoke about traffic during qualifying, and offered some solutions. For veteran driver Fernando Alonso, a return to “one-shot” qualifying could be the answer.
“There are a few options to improve this: one is single-lap qualifying, like in the past,” said Alonso.
The Aston Martin driver also highlighted how that could shine a spotlight on all ten teams.
“That would be ideal, in my opinion, because only one car on track and full TV coverage for that lap, for everyone’s sponsors and things like that,” added Alonso. “And that created a little bit of drama in case of weather changes in between qualifiers, you could see in pole position different cars, different names. So that was, I think, my preferred option.”
Sainz also highlighted the potential for one-lap qualifying, particularly at sprint races like this weekend’s Austrian GP. “The single lap qualifying is maybe something to experiment with, as Fernando said. Also, maybe in Sprint weekends, to try, if it would work,” said Sainz. “I personally, was a big fan of it. Because I do like that feeling of suddenly having the whole track for you and having the pressure to perform only in one lap. I think that would be really good fun for us, I think for our sponsors, and for everyone.”
Other drivers pointed to technological advancements, rather than one-lap qualifying, as a means of addressing the traffic issue.
“Also, there could be idea on the dash, maybe you get to see when is the next car, how many seconds close by you, in the future development on the dash, system-wise but that’s pretty much everything I can think of,” said Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo.
“I think the only suggestion we had in the past was to have like your GPS delta on the dash,” said George Russell of Mercedes, “…so you’re not relying on your engineers because when you’re going slow the cars come at you so quick and we’re always relying on our engineers to tell us, so put it in our hands to manage and not somebody else’s.”
F1 did use one-shot qualifying in the past, trying different formats from 2003 to 2005. The move towards the current three-stage elimination process began in 2006, with the current format introduced for the 2010 season.
Regardless of if — and how — F1 chooses to address the traffic issue, it is clear that no solutions will be implemented before qualifying gets underway in a few hours.
Which means traffic may be an issue again this weekend.
