Today's drama-infused qualifying for the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama exposed some major problems with the process. I will admit, this was the first time I have watched a full qualifying effort for a non-oval race, and I was not impressed with how IndyCar does qualifying. I understand IndyCar wants to create some excitement by having so many cars trying to qualify at once, but the current system is ineffective, dangerous, and unfair.
First, James Hinchclife accused Will Power of intentionally slowing/blocking him, ruining his chances for a spot in the next round of qualifying. That's a hefty accusation to make, and I don't think Hinch would make it unless he truly believed it. (He later recanted on Twitter, but communication is irreversible; he'd already put it out there.) If it is true, Power should be penalized. Dirty driving should not be tolerated, and I recall Power complaining about Franchitti racing him dirty a couple of years ago. Everyone should have a fair chance to compete. But instead Power sits in P2 for tomorrow's race, and points leader Hinchcliffe sits in P20. I worry about a series with drivers who become too competitive and try to take out the leader. Even if Power wasn't doing it intentionally, the bottom line is that neither he nor Hinchcliffe should have been in that position. You shouldn't have to worry about other cars being in your way when you're trying to qualify.
Second, Takuma Sato
was penalized for blocking Justin Wilson, which knocked Sato out of the Firestone Fast Six. That's fine, but what about Wilson? He claimed he was having a fast lap, and could probably have made the top six if he was allowed to accelerate without being blocked. In this case I think they should have had the Firestone Fast
Seven and allowed Wilson to show what he could do. Here's a comparison.
I used to participate in forensics, which is not the study of dead bodies in this example, but rather competitive speech and debate. Occasionally tab rooms, which are made up of individuals in charge of adding up all the scores that speakers receive and making sure the correct top six advance to the final round, will make a mistake. They will accidentally omit someone who should have made it to finals, and the mistake typically is not caught until after the tournament or the round is over. I have been in a tab room that erred once, and it is not a pleasant feeling. You feel for the student who was left out, who should have had a chance to compete with the other finalists and maybe even beat all of them. When this happens, the student receives what we call a "golden one" or a first-place award. This means that if they fall short of qualifying for nationals, they can use the tournament's omission as an argument as to why they should be allowed to qualify. (The whole process of qualifying for nationals is complicated, and should be the subject of another blog entirely! If you're interested, please see
www.afa-niet.org.)
In Wilson's case, since the "error" or the blocking was caught immediately, he should have been given another chance. That seems to be the fair and just solution. Now, P8 is still a respectable starting position, but on a track where passing is difficult and qualifying matters significantly, it could have a negative impact on Wilson's race. And that is not a pleasant feeling.
The other thing that frustrates me (and some of the drivers, too, it would seem) about qualifying is that it's not necessarily the top twelve fastest cars that advance to the second round. It's the top six from each
group. So if you were in a group with six other fast cars, and you were the seventh fastest overall, too bad. You'll have to start in the back. This is exactly the point Bobby Rahal made on Twitter:
And, as we all know, having a bunch of fast cars in the back is a recipe for disaster.
Clearly the current qualifying process is not working as well as it should. I like the idea of the Firestone Fast Six, and I'm really happy that Ryan Hunter-Reay got the pole (he came out of nowhere it seemed!) but there are other, better solutions. For instance, why not have each car drive two laps, similar to NASCAR (and I hate that I want IndyCar to borrow from NASCAR, ick), and then the top six fastest cars compete for the pole at once? During the two-lap drive, you could have two cars on the track at once to speed things along. Or, limit the number of cars on the track at one time. Or choose groups based on results from the previous race (maybe they do this already, I don't know). Something, anything, is better than the current method.
