24/10/2005
NEWS STORY
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has got his way, and consequently Formula One will adopt a knock-out qualifying system next season, as he exclusively revealed to Pitpass in July.
At a meeting of the Formula One Commission today it was confirmed that the knock-out system has been agreed upon, even though a couple of team bosses - most notably McLaren's Ron Dennis were against the format.
Under the new format - first mooted in a survey on formula1.com - the session will be split into two fifteen minute sessions which will see the slowest five in the first session eliminated to take sixteenth to twentieth on the grid. The slowest five cars in the second fifteen minute session will than take eleventh to fifteenth places on the grid, while the remaining ten cars will then take part in a twenty-minute free for all for the top ten positions on the grid.
Outgoing - in every sense - Minardi boss, Paul Stoddart, told Reuters TV that in his opinion this new format is not the way to go: "Five changes in as many years... I just worry about trying to educate the public why we go ahead with 10 cars in the last 20 minutes.
"Formula One is blessed that it has 180 odd million people watching it every two weeks and I don't think we ought to mess with things too much."
The FIA has also confirmed that tyre changes during races will be allowed next season, after being banned in 2005, however, drivers will be restricted to 28 identical tyres for the entire weekend. It is widely considered that this is a total about turn by FIA President, Max Mosley.
Looking ahead, the commission agreed with a number of controversial proposals being put forward, including the introduction of a single (control) tyre, slick tyres - another Mosley volte face - and a controversial new rear wing, the Centreline Downwash Generating (CDG) Wing, which it is hopes will generate more overtaking.
"It is intended that the wing, together with wider wheels and slick tyres, will form part of the 2008 FIA Formula One technical regulations," the FIA said in a statement. "With the support and collaboration of the teams it may be possible to introduce these changes as early as 2007."
Stoddart, however, remains sceptical: "It has to go through the process of gaining eight votes out of 10 in the technical working group, I'm not so convinced it's going to go through for 2007," he said.