Formula One news

Massa believes qualifying format could be improved

Felipe Massa has said he isn't a bit fan of the current situation in qualifying. Last season the ten drivers who entered the third and final qualifying session began their qualifying session with the amount of fuel they wished to start the race with. This season though the rules say they start the race with the amount of fuel still left in their tanks at the end of the qualifying session.

In 2007 the Formula 1 drivers had 15 minutes to try and empty their tanks as much as possible in order to completed a timed lap with as little fuel as possible and with new tyres - meaning fans would witness at least 10 minutes of fuel burning. When qualifying finished the teams could fill up their cars with fuel to the amount they began their qualifying session with. But in 2008 the Formula 1 drivers get only 10 minutes to set their best timed lap, and the amount of fuel that is still left in their tanks is the amount of fuel they will need to start Sunday's race with. According to Massa this doesn't make Formula 1's qualifying session much more exciting.

Speaking about this year's qualifying format Massa said: "There has been plenty of talk about the new qualifying format and whether or not we need to introduce a means to stop cars slowing too much to save fuel in Q3 on the lap after their quick one and certainly I think we need to discuss the situation. Personally, I don't find the new sporting regulations concerning qualifying in Q3 do much to make it more interesting. At least in the old one you got to do a low fuel run but now it's a bit boring running with the fuel you will use to start the race.

Q1 and Q2 are so long and then you have to wait in the garage and having a very heavy car to drive in Q3 is not really much fun, even if I put in a fantastic qualifying lap in Q3 in Malaysia to take pole position. In the past, it was a bit more fun from the driving point of view. Maybe we need a rule change because of this problem of cars going slowly on their in lap, but let's wait and see what suggestions people come up with."

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