F1 | Liberty Media may change the qualification format

It is well known that since its establishment as the owner of Formula 1, Liberty Media has continued to propose ideas to improve the show of the top motor racing championship.

Among the latest proposals from the American giant would be to change the qualifying format, introducing an additional session. The current qualifying system includes three sessions, Q1, Q2 and Q3: in the first and second part, 5 drivers are eliminated respectively for each heat, while the 10 drivers remaining in Q3 will be the protagonists of the fight for pole position and for the first file. Liberty Media has never hidden its desire to make everything even more spectacular and for this reason it is considering the introduction of the Q4, as reported by its German colleagues at Auto Motor und Sport. The format would therefore be modified in such a way as to provide for the elimination of 4 drivers for each session up to Q3, with the remaining 8 competing for pole position in Q4.

The current three-heat format was introduced in 2006 and has always found favor with the public. Initially the time available in each heat was 15 minutes, which was subsequently modified in order to increase the suspense in Q3 (18 minutes in Q1, 15 in Q2 and 12 in Q3). Already in 2016, Formula 1 had tried to modify the qualifying format, testing the direct elimination format, which however was not successful and was abandoned only after 2 races.