F1 | Sainz and Verstappen against Q4: "This way qualifying would become like free practice"

In recent weeks the owners of Formula 1 had taken into consideration the inclusion of a further qualifying heat to add to Q1, Q2 and Q3: we are talking about Q4 so as to have only eight drivers fighting for pole in the final session. A proposal that objectively would make no sense and which has currently been shelved, but only for 2019, we will talk about it again in the future. Many have spoken out against this solution, this time it's Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen: the two former teammates at Toro Rosso had no happy words for this solution that was temporarily set aside.

“It could only be implemented with one set of tires per driver per session – said Sainz ad Motorsport. You don't have to give the drivers a second chance, they have to do one lap per heat, at that point it would make sense and the pressure would be much higher. This way you should immediately put together a lap from Q1, rather than preserving the car until Q3. Having only one chance takes a lot of concentration, because you can't go wrong on that one turn. More than anything we should help those teams who are behind the top teams and are forced to start on used tyres. If you want quality in qualifying then you have to think about the tyres. Everything has to be put together."

“Qualifying must remain like this, otherwise you do too many laps – said Verstappen. It's more and more practical, so qualifying would become like a free practice session, where you have lots of opportunities to put together a good lap. It would just be another practice session where everyone can find the rhythm, whereas in qualifying you would have to go out and have a few attempts, stop. By doing more laps at a certain point you manage to find the right rhythm and it's not good."