This qualifying format F1 will test during two Grands Prix in 2023

Formula 1 will test a new qualifying format in 2023. Two race weekends this season will test this new format. In an exclusive interview with GPblog, Mario Isola explains exactly how this will work.

Pirelli will test

Last year, Isola already announced that a new qualifying format will be tested in 2023. The current qualifying format has been used since 2006 and has been very successful, but F1 continues to look for improvements. This is also the case now. In Bahrain, Pirelli's Motorsport Director explained how this will work during the 2023 F1 season.

''We will have two races. Those have not been announced yet, but that will happen soon,'' the top Pirelli executive revealed in conversation with GPblog. On which weekends the new format will be tested is not yet known. What the weekend will look like is.

New F1 qualifying format

''On those race weekends, the number of slicks available to drivers will be 11 instead of 13. With this alternative tyre selection, we will have the hard tyre for Q1, the medium tyre for Q2 and the soft tyre for Q3, with two sets of each tyre. In qualifying, conditions will then be the same for everyone.''

Despite everyone getting the same tyres in qualifying, there are still strategic options. For example, a team can choose to bring an extra tyre for a qualifying section. However, an extra soft tyre then causes you to miss it in the race. A new tactical element that could work out well, according to Isola. In addition, Pirelli will have to bring fewer tyres, which in turn will save a lot of money.

GPblog spoke at length with Isola in Bahrain. The full interview with the Italian will appear on the website after the weekend. For instance, Isola also discussed the new tyres, feedback from the drivers, the new rain tyres for 2023 and much more.