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Perez: Bahrain to give final verdict on qualifying format

Sergio Perez thinks it may actually be best for Formula 1 to finally judge this weekend if elimination qualifying has the potential to mix things up, despite discontent that it remains in place.

Jonathan Noble

Edited: Mar 31, 2016, 2:13 PM

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Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Max Verstappen, Scuderia Toro Rosso STR11 and Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 Team W07

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H joins the queue at the pit lane exit

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09 on the grid

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India F1 VJM09

Pascal Wehrlein, Manor Racing MRT05

With F1 chiefs have failed to reach agreement about how to tweak the format after its disastrous debut in Australia, the sport has been forced to keep it unchanged for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

And although few want the system to remain in place, Perez believes that the weekend will at least show once and for all whether or not it can deliver the mixed up order that prompted its introduction in the first place.

"In a way let's give it a go, let's see how things go," he said, when asked by Motorsport.com for his opinion on it remaining unchanged for this weekend.

"I want to believe that we can create a bit more of a trouble in the race with this qualifying system.

"If we hadn't had the safety car and stuff, who knows what would have happened with us in [Australia] on that different strategy – with a one-stop on different compounds.

"For me, the bad part of qualifying remains Q3 because when you see the last four minutes of Q3 with everything decided because people have run out of tyres it is a bit of a shame.

"But let's see. Let's give it another go and see how things go."

Q3 tweak

Although Perez believes that an idea to revert Q3 to its previous format may be a good interim solution, he thinks it may not still not improve things enough because teams could still run out of tyres.

"I think as a short term solution, that can be a good one and a quick one to fix," he said. "But still you will have cars arriving in to Q3, like Ferrari, that didn't have good laps in Q2 [in Australia] so had to do a second attempt.

"In Q3 you should be more open to inspire people to run in the last minute."

Strategy potential

Force India tried to make the most of a deliberate decision not to get out of Q2, which gave them a better strategy tyre option for the start of the race.

But while that did not work – thanks to the red flag caused by Fernando Alonso's crash, Perez thinks that this weekend there should be a good chance of getting back in the points.

Force India will be running a modified suspension as part of a package of mechanical updates for the Bahrain weekend.

"I am really looking forward to start opening my account with the points," he said. "I was really unlucky in Melbourne when everything fell apart at the start.

"I had a poor start, and the clutch was overheated. I had a poor start and had poor track position the whole race and everything was ruined from then on.

"Qualifying was great but the race didn't turn out to be so good. The pace is there which is a good thing and hopefully this weekend we can have a clear weekend and score big points, because I think the circuit can be a good one for us."

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