Ever since the Italian Grand Prix last month, the FIA has been refining its approach to the inherent difficulties of slow cars in qualifying causing problems for cars on quick laps.
In the past, the only demand placed on drivers was for them to maintain a minimum speed on their lap back to the pits after putting in a hot lap – as this prevented them from dawdling and causing trouble for rivals.
However, from the Italian GP, the FIA started applying a maximum time to any lap in qualifying – which meant drivers could not take things too easy on their out-laps either.
This stance worked in Italy but was then abandoned for Singapore because drivers felt it was better there if they managed things entirely themselves on the tight street circuit before it returned to force for the Japanese GP.
While the need to maintain a minimum speed has made things tricky for drivers who wanted to go slow to prevent tyres from overheating, it has made qualifying easier for teams to handle – because gaps on track are much easier to predict.
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: “Everyone's doing the same time [now] and it has tidied up the qualifying session, which is the reason that the FIA have done it.
“There were a few instances where you had either near misses or very high closing speed, so it actually makes it simpler to plan. But the tricky bit is it gets very constrained.
Source: Autosport