F1 shouldn't let new team start Bahrain Grand Prix

Before I start, be sure to listen to my podcast interview with wheels.ca special F1 correspondent Gerald Donaldson by clicking here. We’ll do one before every GP this year.

And on Monday, I’ll be answering motor racing questions in a Live Chat on thestar.com at noon. Agree with what I say? Disagree (see letters to the Wheels editor for a few of those)? Or just want to exchange views about our favourite sport? Go to the home page of thestar.com and log in at noon Monday.

In news today, Sebastien Vettel has won the pole for the Grand Prix of Bahrain in the Red Bull (for full story, click here), with Felipe Massa (way to go, Felipe!) and Fernando Alonso second and third in their Ferraris. Ex-world champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) finished fourth, seven-time heavyweight champ Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) is seventh – he qualified behind new teammate Nico Rosberg, who’s fifth – and current title holder Jenson Button is eighth. Mark Webber is sixth in the other Red Bull.

All the new teams are at the back – Virgin, Lotus and and HRT in that order with HRT drivers Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhock last, between eight and 10 seconds off the pole pace.

Okay, does anybody remember F1's 107% rule? The FIA instituted that back in 1996 when they had F1 entries coming out of their ears (remember Simtek? remember Forti?) and most of those little, unsophisticated and underfunded teams simply couldn’t cut the mustard.

So the rule was, if a driver was not within 107% of the pole speed after qualifying, he couldn’t start the race because he’d be deemed a hazard.

(It was abolished in 2002 for two reasons: the number of cars entered had fallen – they needed a field – and the stewards had to keep making exceptions because name drivers like Damon Hill and Fernando Alonso would have off-days and be terribly slow in qualifying and wouldn’t have been able to race under that rule if it had been enforced as written.)

In any event, what are Senna and Chandhock, if not hazards? They are rookies and their untested and untried cars are slow and letting them race in Sunday’s Grand Prix is a recipe for disaster.

Between the end of qualifying today and the race tomorrow, the established teams and the stewards should ask the FIA to re-establish the 107% rule immediately. As Donaldson said in our F1 season preview interview (click here for the column), a fast car closing rapidly on a slower car is very dangerous and is exactly how Gilles Villeneuve died.

This is not Saturday night at the local race track. This is Grand Prix, second only to the Olympics (where, incidentally, you generally have to get through qualifying before going for the gold) in money, sophistication and world-wide interest, and is no place for amateurs.

By the way, Martin Brundle – on the qualifying broadcast today – said tens of millions of people were watching. Presumably, he was talking about the TV audience because it looked like tens were in the grandstands and it makes you wonder why F1 insists on going to those places where the local interest appears to be just about zilch.

No wonder F1 wants Montreal – and should get back to Indianapolis, too. (By the way, the real reason they don’t want to go back to Indy has nothing to do with money; the participants don’t find the city particularly stimulating – it’s a little too small-town for their tastes, with all them Steak 'n Shakes and the like – and that’s why they’re not there.)

All the seats and all the suites will be packed on first practice Friday morning in Montreal – and would be in Indy, too – and that’s what should be important to F1.

Comments

[Edward Palys]

Rules are changed constantly, for whatever reason. Let the races roll under today's rules until further changes are deemed necessary. If new entries are hazards to the "real" drivers, then I'm sure new rules will be instituted. At least, with the new cars in the races, we will see some passing, something that has become so rare that most of us think we are watching a funeral procession in fast motion.

[allenparkpete]

Can't agree Edward.

Those new teams are not only slow but a few of the drivers have never even entered in an F1 race let alone test their cars till this weekend. That is certainly a dangerous situation given the variance in experience between drivers at the top and the bottom. Ever watch LeMans?

Of equal concern: I'm finding myself agreeing with Norris! Ouch. 3 blogs in a row I think. That 107 rule has shades of NASCAR where it suits the series given good times and disappears rapidly when the grid suffers.

Was F1 not about the highest racing standards on the planet and it was up to the teams and sponsor participants to meet that standard?

As a (simple) suggestion but a suggestion nonetheless as I was taught if you have a criticism; offer a solution: Should any new team wish to enter in F1, they should not be eligible till they meet that 107% rule on speed given the current track record of 3 sessions during the F1 season at designated tracks.

Pick 3 tracks. Let's say Silverstone, Barcelona (not on the F1 calendar) and Valencia.

For every one third of the season there is an "all F1" participation with established teams of course and any newbies wishing to enter. The new teams or team need to be at least within 107% of the leading team in that full weekend session.

If you do not make that 107%, you do not participate for the next third of the season or in the final test, till next year.

What it does is at least allow the new teams to establish a target to particpate and alert their sponsors and it also gives the established teams fair warning.

Just a suggestion.