Hungarian Grand Prix 2023: Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton Show Frustration Over New Qualifying Format

Max Verstappen echoed Lewis Hamilton's thoughts on the new F1's qualifying format introduced at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19 and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and England on the podium after the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 09, 2023 in Northampton, England.

Source : Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton has joined arch rival Max Verstappen in criticizing F1's new qualifying format introduced at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. Both the drivers felt it was a shame they couldn't deliver more to the spectators. This is because they had to save tyres and couldn’t drive at full pace which resulted in two tedious practice sessions.

F1 has just implemented a new qualification format. Each team will be issued 11 sets of tyres, 4+3+3 of soft, medium and hard compound and must use each compound at least once during the Grand Prix weekend. Although it was originally scheduled for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, it was then moved to the Hungaroring because of the cancellation of the Imola event due to flooding in the region.

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The first and second practice sessions on Friday clearly demonstrated how the new rule has affected the drivers and their pace. There were no fast outlaps or aggressive pushes which was done mostly to preserve the tyres compounds for Qualification sessions. As the practice sessions were tedious, Hamilton and Verstappen recognized that it had been a tough day for spectators attending the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit.

Verstappen and Hamilton React Negatively to the New Rule Change  

In a post-practice interview, the seven-time world champion stated, according to Mercedes AMG News, "It wasn't a very good format this weekend. They limited our running on the track, which drew the attention of the spectators. They throw a lot of wet tyres following racing weekends; perhaps they should investigate."

The British driver finished a lowly 16th in FP2 

While the two-time world champion and current championship leader said in the post-practice interview, "We had some limitations due to the new qualifying format, so we didn’t want to waste too many sets of tyres to get ready for tomorrow. That’s a shame because so many people were in the grandstands, and we didn’t give them much away." 

The Dutch driver finished an out of form P11 in FP2. 

The New F1 Qualification Rule

Teams are limited in the compounds they can utilize in dry circumstances during qualifying. Teams must employ the hard compound during Q1, the medium compound during Q2, and the soft compound during Q3. F1 and Pirelli, the sole tyre supplier for all F1 teams, are calling this the "Alternative Tyre Allocation" system.

If race officials deem track conditions to be "wet", teams have their choice of compounds.

As per reports, Pirelli and F1 have introduced this new ruling in order to reduce the number of tyre sets brought into the race weekend. This is being done to reduce the burden on the logistics team and to reach F1’s carbon neutral goals.