Formula 1's new qualifying format, which sees drivers eliminated every 90 seconds, will likely result in traffic problems during the earlier sessions according to Ferrari's Maurizio Arrivabene and McLaren's Eric Boullier.
Whilst the basic structure of qualifying remains the same – with Q1, Q2 and Q3 – the slowest driver is now eliminated after a set period of time and then further eliminations will take place until the session ends, leaving a certain number of cars left, which will progress through to the next session until the grid is set.
Arrivabene has resevations over the new format and is predicting a busy pitlane on Saturday, comparing it to a 'supermarket queue' on a busy shopping day.
"I don’t want to be against any changes, Ferrari don’t want to be against the change, I simply think that maybe giving a bit more time to the team to work on ideas [would have been] better," he said on Friday.
"The only certainty is that probably tomorrow at the beginning of the qualifying we are going to see a line like on Saturday at the cashier of the supermarket – everybody wants to go out."
McLaren's Boullier too expects a busier circuit and therefore some problems with traffic, but believes it will result in an unpredictable result.
"We’ll see [what happens] this weekend," he said. "There is some upside and downside.
"The qualifying format we had before, I think we all agree, was a successful format. We were used to it.
"I think it is true that there will be more traffic at the beginning of each qualifying segment and there should be more unpredictability for the final result, but we will see."
