You might have caught a glimpse of the timing screens mentioning 107% time sometime. What is it exactly? Continue ahead to find out.
Why?
To start off, this rule was brought in place to have slower such that they are dangerous out of the race.
Another reason has been to avoid having teams coming with underdeveloped cars just to have the opportunity to showcase the sponsors and hence have the drivers and cars on the grid which resemble the platform F1 aims to stand for.
|> The Arrows team, French GP 2002. The team were low on funds and participated in qualifying to avoid fines.
What is it?
In 2018, the rule was amended to not be considered during unsuitable conditions (rain)
- In the three-part qualifying session we have now, the 5 slowest cars in Q1 have to set a time under 107% of the fastest laptime in that session.
- If a driver fails to set a suitable time, he/she would be allowed to race if he/she showed pace during any of the practice sessions.
Let’s take an example,
French GP 2021
Drivers eliminated in Q1:
LAT = 1:33.062s
RAI = 1:33.354s
MAZ = 1:33.554s
STR = 2:12.584s
TSU = No time (Crashed before setting a time)
Fastest time in Q1: 1:31.001
So the 107% time was: 1:37.371
For Lance Stroll,
The times posted by him during the practice sessions allowed him to enter the race, starting from the back of the grid.
For Yuki Tsunoda,
Following his shunt, the team needed to change some gearbox components. Since he was going to start from the end of the grid due to his qualifying, taking the new parts put him for a Pit lane start.
How the rule book says it,
Sprint Qualifying Special
Source: https://www.fia.com/regulation/category/110 (Sporting Regulations)
Stats caused by this rule:
(Since its reintroduction in 2011)
- Most number of drivers failing to set suitable time: Hungary 2016 (11 drivers)
- Most number of infractions by a driver: Narain Karthikeyan (3 instances)
- Drivers currently on the grid having been hit by this rule, (Number of instances)
- Daniel Ricciardo (2)
- Carlos Sainz Jr. (1)
- Max Verstappen (2)
- Sergio Perez (1)
- Valtteri Bottas (1)
- Lance Stroll (1)
Note: Why not Yuki? Yuki didn’t set a time in Q1 so he was not considered.
Other series do this too?
Yes, many series have similar rules. Even two-wheels have this, with MotoGP having a 107% time cutoff.
Formula E (110% rule), IndyCar (105% rule), NASCAR (115% rule)
The Monaco 2021 F2 weekend had a controversial infraction of this rule.
Alessio Deledda had a best time of 1:27.744s. The fastest lap during that session was Robert Schwartzman 1:21.403s. A difference of 6.341s that breached the 107% cutoff.
However the team were allowed to race citing mechanical issues, which wasn’t revealed when the decision of allowing Deledda was declared. The stewards taking time to confirm the team’s explanations.
Thank You for reading!
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