Music: My Pace by SunSet Swish

ini khas untuk IHSAN..

u probably compared the times between the 2nd session and 3rd session of qualifying.. qualifying format this year is different.. like totally.. the most radical change ever made.. lol.. so lemme explain (lol alasan je ni actually i WANT TO talk about it because i love f1 and its been a while since I talked about f1 with anyone lol this is going to be a verryyyy loooonggg entry muahahah)

the format (the technical aspect)
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qualifying this year.. called the knockout format.. ada 3 sessions..

1st session: 15 minutes
-all cars do a timed lap (there are 22 cars racing this year)
-only the fastest 16 cars can advance to the next session
-the slowest 6 cars are on P17 to P22 slots on the grid
-no need to run on race fuel
-all timed laps must finish before the 15-minute mark is over
-can change tyres

5 minutes break

2nd session: 15 minutes
-timed lap from previous session is now null
-remaining 16 cars do a timed lap
-only the fastest 10 cars can advance to the next session
-the slowest 6 cars are on P11 to P16 slots on the grid
-no need to run on race fuel
-all timed laps must finish before the 15-minute mark is over
-can change tyres

5 minutes break

3rd session: 20 minutes
-timed lap from previous session is now null
-remaining 10 cars do a timed lap to determine P1 to P10 slots
-must run on race fuel, so by the end of qualifying session the cars will fill up the tank up to where it was at the start of the 3rd session
-all timed laps can finish after the 20-minute mark is over, but their flying laps must start before the 20-minute mark is over
-can change tyres

total: 1 hour

the strategies involved (the interesting part)
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this format brings back traffic to qualifying.. i like!!!! rather than the boring single laps.. sometimes aku ngantuk tgk.. so timing is all important now.. if u go out early, the tracks will still be slippery.. but of course the slow teams have no choice but to go out early.. the top teams will try to go out as late as possible, ie wait till there are enough rubber on the track.. plus top teams usually confident they can go fast even if they go out last minute.. plus the cars all run on minimum fuel level at this point so no reason to go out early.. but if too many teams go out late, there will be traffic.. just like what happened yesterday in Bahrain (although it was because of Raikkonen).. being truck in traffic is also no good for the tyres because u want to get it up to the right temperatures...

so that is why timing is very important.. u wanna go out at the right time.. so also u must finish the flying time sebelum 15 minute tu habis.. reason being they don't want the 5 minute break to be used for timed laps.. i think this is pretty reasonable...

well all that applies to the 1st session and 2nd session..

its different for the 3rd session.. the 10 cars have to start on race fuel.. so the timed laps are considerably slower than for the ones in 1st and 2nd session **IHSAN THIS IS PROBABLY WHY U WERE CONFUSED**

the amount of race fuel will depend on whether u wanna do a 1 or 2 or 3 pitstop. since the remaining 10 cars can fill up the tank to race fuel level again after the qualifying.. the cars will start to go out early in the 3rd session.. reason being:

1) to burn as much fuel as possible so the car will become lighter and they can do faster flying laps until the 3rd session is over... an F1 car burns an average of 10kg of fuel per lap, which makes the car run faster by an average of 0.4 seconds per lap..

2) to make the track as dirty as possible so there's more grip on the tyres

so now since the cars will do continuous flying laps throughout the 3rd session, of course their tyres will get worn out right.. so before the final minutes of the sessions, the strategy is to change to new tyres for their last ever run... so with brand new tyres and dirty track and a formation lap before the flying lap to heat up the tyres.. the cars will be able to run their fastest timed lap.. each car can have 7 sets of tyres for the whole race weekend so that's pretty adequate.

the qualifying times from the 3rd session is probably not the true indication of the fastest cars on the track.. because we don't know the amount of race fuel of each car.. the final minutes from the 2nd session probably gives the better indication, since all the cars are running on minimum fuel and the track is probably dirty enough by that time..

oh yeah... the cars that were not able to advance to the 3rd stage can put any amount of race fuel as they want

hmmmm.. that's about what i can say for now from my understanding so far.. will learn more about the ways of the new qualifying format as the season progresses...

comments on Bahrain Qualifying
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yes lahhh Micheal Schumacher back on pole!!! its been a while ne... the look on his face after he got out of his car.. ahh makes me happy!! good for Ferrari that they dominate the front row after so long... but urghh i can start to feel that Felipe Massa is getting big headed.. just read the interviews.. its very subtle but u can feeel it!! or is it just me? lol..
hooray for button as well yattaa!! well shouldn't expect anything less because ferrari and honda were the 2 teams that did testing in Bahrain.. no matter what they do have the advantage.. but aiyoo i'm so frustrated with mclaren.. poor raikkonen!!! he must be pissed!!! but he's the iceman.. bahrain circuit has lots of overtaking opportunities.. raikkonen can do it no doubt lol. alonso on P4 nyehehehehhe.. well he probably had lots more race fuel than ferrari that's why lah.. so many things to sayy... but i'm tired of typing already lol..

all in all... i think i'm gonna love this knockout format.. soooooooooooo exciting lah!! respond from various F1 ppl are good too... i've never been excited this much since i discovered matsumoto jun, lmao!!