Williams driver Alex Albon has suggested a potentially ‘stupid’ idea to fix a growing issue impacting most Formula 1 race weekends and rose its head at the Chinese GP.
Shanghai welcomed the pinnacle of motorsport back to the Jiading District last weekend for the first time since 2019. Max Verstappen did the double, as well, as the Red Bull racer won the F1 Sprint and the Chinese GP. He now heads the standings by 25 points to Sergio Perez.
Verstappen also sealed pole position for the fifth time in the first five rounds for the Chinese GP. While McLaren driver Lando Norris earned pole for the Sprint by 1.261 seconds to Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes. Albon only qualified in P18 for the Sprint and P14 for the Grand Prix.
Alex Albon suggests a ‘stupid idea’ to improve qualifying in F1
But it was Nico Hulkenberg jumping the queue of drivers waiting to leave the pit lane in Q1 during qualifying for the Chinese GP that has tempted Albon to propose a radical shake-up to the session. Hulkenberg used the slow lane to overtake two cars waiting in the fast lane.
The stewards found the Haas driver in breach of Article 34.8 of the Sporting Regulations to merit a reprimand. It was the first reprimand that Hulkenberg, who has signed with Sauber for 2025, has received this year. But Albon wants F1 and the FIA to consider some changes.
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While Albon concedes it may be a ‘stupid idea’, the Williams driver has suggested F1 and the FIA should consider splitting the field in Q1. The 28-year-old believes it would make sense to reduce the number of cars on the circuit for qualifying at certain races, like the Austrian GP.
“I’ve always been keen on the idea of doing a split quali,” he told RacingNews365. “Q1, two groups and we’d get rid of the Austria, Red Bull Ring issue. When the tracks are big enough I don’t think we need it, like [the British GP at] Silverstone or [Belgian GP at] Spa, for example.
“You could make the Q1s shorter and everyone has like, I don’t know, the same time as Q2 and just go out and do it. But maybe not, maybe that’s a stupid idea.”
The Austrian GP will pose a greater issue than the Chinese GP
The Austrian GP, much like the Monaco GP and the Italian GP, regularly sees drivers fight for track position in qualifying and cause problems with the traffic it creates. F1 and the FIA bid to prevent any repeats in 2024 by forcing the drivers to follow a delta time on their out laps.
But drivers striving to stay to the minimum delta and going as slowly as possible on their out laps has led to situations like at the Chinese GP where the field bunches up in the pit lane. It is likely to get worse at races like the Austrian GP as the Red Bull Ring is just 4.318km (2.6m).
Alex Albon experienced split qualifying in Monaco while in F2
Circuit de Monaco is also only 3.3km (2m) long as the Monaco GP runs through the barrier-lined streets of the Principality. So, Formula 2 and Formula 3 both utilise the split-qualifying system which Albon now proposes Formula 1 also adopts for certain races on the calendar.
F2 and F3 split the field with even-numbered drivers running in Group A and odd-numbered drivers running in Group B. The driver who achieves the outright fastest lap time across both sessions then gets pole, with the other drivers in that group starting in odd-numbered spots.
Albon experienced the split qualifying system during his visits to the Monaco GP while an F2 driver in 2017 and 2018. He also set the fastest lap time in his group while driving for ART in 2017 but Charles Leclerc took pole. Albon returned and took pole driving for DAMS in 2018.
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