Force India: Late qualifying change not a big challenge

The late change to the qualifying format is not a big challenge for teams to have to deal with, according to Force India’s Otmar Szafnauer.

A meeting of the F1 Commission in late February saw a new qualifying format proposed which involves elimination of the slowest cars at regular intervals.

Following some uncertainty regarding the new format, the change was approved by the World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] at the end of last week, with the new system set to be introduced at the Australian Grand Prix.

Force India chief operating officer Szafnauer told F1i the change will not prove to challenging for the teams despite late confirmation, saying the format remains similar to what they are used to.

“It’s not so different that we won’t be able to handle it,” Szafnauer said. “I think even if you decide quite late we will be able to pull it off.

“The format is similar to what we had before, there’s still Q1, Q2 and Q3. It’s not so different that we’re going back to 12 laps in an hour and do them when you want. It’s just after a certain amount of time the drivers who are slowest then drop out as opposed to at the end. So it’s not that different. Either way it goes we’ll be prepared for qualifying.”

And Szafnauer is expecting Force India to be fighting for a place in Q3, which has been reduced to eight cars as part of the new format.

“I think it’s really difficult to predict what the midfield looks like, but I would say we’re not going to be far off where we finished last year.”

FEATURE: Exclusive Q&A with Honda's Yusuke Hasegawa

INTERVIEW: Max Verstappen: The man in demand

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter