Fernando Alonso blasts 'obsolete' qualifying format: "This session used to be the best session of the weekend"

Fernando Alonso has criticized the 'obsolete' qualifying format where too much regulation seems to have made it worse. The current qualifying format has been in play for more than a decade now with a few tweaks here and there. It has been considered a consensus optimum format but the Spaniard does not seem to agree with the assessment.

Talking about the amount of regulation that has been brought into the sport, which includes, delta times, impeding, traffic management, track limits and so on, Fernando Alonso was especially furious at how the FIA has made the qualifying format obsolete.

This season has featured a lot of this where track limit penalties have been rife and so has been this inevitable wait for a few minutes after a session is over to see whether someone gets a penalty or not. Talking to the media ,including PlanetF1, about the session, the Spaniard said,

“Exits did not help or make things worse. It didn’t change much, but it proves that the qualifying format is obsolete. This session used to be the best session of the weekend where the cars, they come alive."

He added:

"You drive these very fast cars and now it’s the worst session of the weekend. For the teams, for drivers, for traffic management, for track limits. Going to the stewards, not respecting the delta, impeding people, deleting the laps. We are all happy that it’s over and it shouldn’t be like that.”

Fernando Alonso not too confident of prospects in fight against McLaren

Aston Martin is batting McLaren for P5 in the championship and the gap between the teams has been reduced significantly in the last couple of races. While Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri start the race ahead of Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard was not too confident about the team's prospects. He said,

“I think when you are in a group of cars and you are fighting the tyres, they seem to struggle a lot more than when you are in free air. But there is no free air with with the gaps that we have right now. We are all in the same timed laps so I think it’s going to be a very long race for us."

He added:

“Obviously, McLaren is the only target that we have. They are starting both of them in front of us so we need a little bit of chaos, if we want to overtake them. In a normal race, they will finish in front of us and that’s not good enough.”

Looking back at the season, Fernando Alonso would be quite happy with how it has panned out and will be hoping for a strong end to it in Abu Dhabi.