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Formula 1 drivers fear Italian Grand Prix qualifying will descend into a “nightmare”, a “mess”, and a “pretty dangerous” situation, despite a two-second reduction in mandated outlap times.
Last year’s top-10 shootout descended into farce when nine cars drove incredibly slowly on their final outlaps desperately trying not to be the first car across the line, and miss out on a tow that is more powerful than ever at Monza.
It ended in eight drivers failing to start their flying lap before time ran out.
That has prompted the FIA to take action in the form of a reminder to drivers they are not allowed to drive unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed dangerous – and an explicit warning that weaving to hinder another car, as was seen in Q3 last year, may be referred to the stewards.
But the most tangible change is the maximum time for outlaps and slow laps in qualifying, which was in place last year and used to determine if a driver is driving too slowly, has been cut by two seconds from 1m45s to 1m43s.
That minimum time will be in place from Saturday’s final practice session onwards, but drivers were not confident after Friday that the scenes of 2019 will be avoided – and some did not even seem to be aware the maximum time was in place a year ago.
“It was difficult in the past, obviously we didn’t get to do the last lap last year,” said six-time world champion and Friday pacesetter Lewis Hamilton.
“So I think it’s going to be interesting. I heard they might put in place a time that we have to do an outlap so maybe that will help.
“But still, I think it’s going to be a nightmare still in the last corner with everyone trying to get a gap and it’s definitely going to be hard work.”
Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was another to acknowledge the FIA’s outlap time in a bid to “try not to cause too many bottlenecks”.
He said he got angry watching Formula 3 qualifying, which was a replica of its own shambolic 2019 season and led to penalties for several drivers.
But he believes F1’s issue is different as it will simply come down to the outlap, whereas in F3 there were drivers on push laps coming across slow-moving groups blocking the line.
“The bunching and everyone fighting for a tow, that’s where it could get messy,” said Ricciardo.
“I watched the F3 qualifying and it was a mess. I was even watching with some rage, it was a bit of mess.
“We’ll be a bit more sensible I would say, and most of us go out on the same lap so it’s really just trying to figure out before the last corner and then on the timed lap it should be OK.”
“It will be a disaster again. I remember from last year and what happened and for sure it will be like that” :: Antonio Giovinazzi
Williams driver George Russell radioed his team during practice to bemoan the traffic as people prepared for their qualifying simulations and warned there would be a crash at some point.
He reiterated that fear afterwards, and echoed Hamilton’s sentiment that it’s “going to be a nightmare”.
“I don’t know what the FIA can do but it’s getting a bit ridiculous, pretty dangerous,” said Russell.
“You’ve got cars behind trying to overtake, cars ahead slowing down to let you by, so you’re trying to look in the mirrors to look where they are, cars are braking…
“There is definitely going to be a crash.
“I think we just need a bit of common sense really.”
Fears of trouble in qualifying are present across the grid as at least half the drivers admitted they are concerned about how it is going to play out.
McLaren’s Lando Norris highlighted the danger of people being out of sync coming across slow-moving cars, as Monza is “one of the fastest tracks on the calendar so the differences in speed and approaching distances are huge”.
His midfield rival Lance Stroll predicted it will be a “mess” and a copy of 2019, as “I see us playing games like we saw last year”, while Daniil Kvyat – whose AlphaTauri team looked rapid in practice – said it could be tricky to avoid a repeat of circumstances that were “a bit ridiculous” last year.
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi added: “It will be a disaster again. I remember from last year and what happened and for sure it will be like that.”
But not everybody believes it is entirely negative. Carlos Sainz Jr said the process of looking for a tow could just add to the drama of the session – unless people miss out on setting a time again.
“I think as long as we can do our qualifying laps then messing around with tows is part of the show,” he said.
“I don’t care if it’s too much of a show but I think what we all want is safety and a crack at our laps.”
