F1 News
Pirelli and Formula 1 test new rules during qualifying Hungary
- Ludo van Denderen
It was originally supposed to be tried out at the Imola Grand Prix, but that race was cancelled (as is well known) due to severe weather. In Hungary, it will come later this July: during qualifying, it will be imposed which compound tyres will be used for each segment of the session.
Formula 1 organisers believe it is important for the sport to become more sustainable. Further limiting the number of sets of tyres to be used during a weekend is one measure to ensure this. In a regular weekend, drivers have 13 sets of tyres at their disposal, at the Hungaroring it will be 11: three sets of hard tyres, four sets of mediums and four sets of softs.
In regular qualifying, teams have the option to decide which compound from Pirelli they want to use in Q1, Q2 and Q3. For Hungary, it is prescribed that hard tyres are used in Q1, mediums are mandatory in Q2 and in Q3 the drivers drive softs. By the way, should qualifying be wet, a free choice of tyres will apply.
Fewer unused tyre sets
The advantage of this set-up is that teams actually use the allocated sets of tyres. In the current situation, drivers usually choose softs (and sometimes a medium tyre) for qualifying. The hard tyre comes in much less often, sometimes during the races as well. By reducing the number of tyre sets and also prescribing when to use which tyres in qualifying, Formula 1 wants to try to reduce the number of unused sets of tyres - which is obviously better in terms of durability.
It was originally planned that the set-up for Hungary would thus have been used for the first time in Imola. Moreover, the idea was to test the mandatory tyre compound prescription in qualifying at two Grands Prix. Which other venue it will eventually be is still unknown. If Pirelli and the teams are satisfied with the trial, the system might be introduced for every Grand Prix in 2024.