1990 weekend format

[52Paddy]

I'm currently looking into the 1990 F1 season. I've been looking at a few wiki pages and getting some inside info from F1 rejects as regards some of the more pathetic entries of that season (Life, Coloni etc.)

I watched the first round, Phoenix, recently and am just getting to grips with the old format of the race weekend. Starting from pre-quali I gather this:

1. Any teams which were not in the top 13 in the 1989 constructor's championship must take part in pre-quali. As an example, nine drivers took part in the pre-quali for the US GP. T

2. The fastest 4 of these drivers go on to real qualifying (meaning 30 drivers at most, will have the chance to get into qualifying.)

3. The slowest 4 from real qualifying don't get to race. That means the largest grid is of 26 cars. Of course, if a driver in the top 26, should be disqualified or unable to race, the fastest of the non qualifiers gets to race.

Yes, simple. But there were two qualifying sessions. Thats where I am confused. Quali 2 didn't appear to have an effect on how the drivers lined up on the grid and their times, at least in Phoenix, were some 20 seconds slower than the times in Q1. What was the purpose of this second session and why were the times so considerably slower?

When I'm following the season I want to understand completely whats going on. I don't like wondering through the year, "why this and why that?"

Two qualifying sessions, split onto two days, Friday and Saturday. Fastest time from those two sessions was pole.

Pre-qualifying took place Friday morning.

A 20-second difference would suggest a change of weather. Normally it was a Saturday session that would be quicker, due to fine-tuning set-up and the track 'rubbering' in.

Oh, and after the Mexican GP (I think,although it could be another mid-season race) the Pre-Qualifying list changed to be that years positions in the WCC. Jordan, for example, got out of pre-qualifying mid-season in 91. Not sure anybody did in 1990.

[Sonic]

Beat me to it tamb!! :)

[52Paddy]

Cheers tamburello. That makes sense because, if I have my facts right, rain affected one of the sessions in Phoenix.

[V12]

The two-session qualifying was very simple, compared to what we currently have. I just used to think of it as one big two hour session, split across two days, the cars would line up in order of fastest time, regardless of when it was set, a lot simpler than the current "knockout" system we have.

To be honest probably the only drawback to the system (and I'm guessing why it was dropped) was that the first 20 or so minutes of an hour-long session would be tumbleweed time as the big boys waited for the track to be rubbered-down, usually by the minnows, followed by a big rush at the end. This was made worse by the ruling in 1993 that limited drivers to 12 laps per qualifying session.

Also Friday was usually less intense, as people expected to go quicker the following day, BUT when Saturday then rained, just as happened in Phoenix, you got some interesting looking lineups, without having to resort to reverse grids or race-fuel qualifying, while it was partly in Phoenix due to Pirelli qualifying rubber (Martini 2nd, Alesi...3rd/4th off the top of my head, De Cesaris up there too), the grid for Phoenix in 1990 was REALLY messed up, IIRC Nigel Mansell's Ferrari was outqualified by Moreno's EuroBrun, and the Williamses were outqualified by Grouillard's Osella. Moreno and *I think* Grouillard were on Pirellis too but were still much higher up than they'd normally be expected to be.

Still, it made for some good excitement looking back at it, starting quietly then gradually building to a period of intense drama right at the end.

And no race fuel loads either :D

[Sonic]

Yup, the 2 day format gave us some wonderful grids even after the 12 lap limit was enforced. Remember Rubens at spa '94. Quick on friday and then it rained cats and dogs on sat.

[inimitablestoo]

The pre-qualifying "reshuffle" took place at the mid-season point (after round eight) and was reorganised to take into account the top 26 cars/13 teams (not necessarily the same thing with single-car entries still in the mix) of the previous two half-seasons - in this case the final eight races of 1989 and the first eight of 1990. By the time you get to the last couple of races of 1990, though, enough cars had dropped out (Onyx/Monteverdi, EuroBrun and Life) that there was no need for it. Until the start of '91...

[philipbain]

Its a shame that more footage of pre-qualifying sessions doesn't exist as some very interesting machinery would get its only run of the weekend in these sessions, such as the Life in 1990 or the equally hopeless Coloni-Subaru of 1991 which was the last F1 car to use a flat 12, unfortunately unlike the legendary flat 12 that Ferrari used in the 70s the engine was hopelessly underpowered and massively overweight and didn't have any hope of either pre-qualifying or getting close to the minimum weight.

One piece of pre-qualifying footage I have seen is from Hockenheim in 1989, it is on that season's review video when one car makes it as far as the first corner on it's first hop lap and crashes massively, ending it's weekend!

[52Paddy]

Its a shame that more footage of pre-qualifying sessions doesn't exist as some very interesting machinery would get its only run of the weekend in these sessions, such as the Life in 1990 or the equally hopeless Coloni-Subaru of 1991

I definitely agree. I would have loved to witness these underdogs in action. Though I thought the Coloni-Subaru was also part of the 1990 line-up. Is it not?

I definitely agree. I would have loved to witness these underdogs in action. Though I thought the Coloni-Subaru was also part of the 1990 line-up. Is it not?

It was. By 1991 Coloni had reverted to Cosworth power.

"Coloni-Subaru (1990)
A unexpected contract with Subaru, the automobile branch of Fuji Heavy Industries, brought substantial monetary backing and additionally an exclusive "works" engine for free. The Japanese took over 51% of Coloni formula, payed the debts and supported the new alliance with a brand new, unique engine. It was a flat-12 engine which in fact was penned by Carlo Chiti. Chiti's Motori Moderni company at Novara had supplied V6 Turbo engines for the Minardi Formula One team from 1985 to 1987, and in 1988 Chiti had penned a normally aspirated V12 engine that attracted Subaru. In late 1988, the Japanese commissioned Chiti to design a new Formula One engine with a "flat" layout - as used in their road cars - that was ready in the Summer of 1989. The engine - now with a Subaru badge - was tested in a Minardi M188 chassis but due to a severe lack of power Minardi very soon lost interest. After a few months of searching, Subaru found the Coloni team. Eventually, the "Subaru Coloni" Team was founded with Enzo Coloni staying on board as the man for operational business.

By the beginning of 1990, the "Subaru" flat engine was not producing more than 500 bhp, so the Coloni Subaru was by far the least competitive machine regularly competing in Formula One in 1990. Subaru and Chiti agreed to build a new V12 engine for Summer 1990 together with a completely new chassis, but in the meantime the flat engine should be used by the "Coloni Subaru" Team in a carry-over chassis. Early in 1990, a handful of Enzo Coloni's mechanics worked on a single C3 and tried to put the Subaru engine in it. The work was not done until the day the FIA started shipping the Formula One material to Phoenix. In the pits at Phoenix, the car was assembled for the very first time, and a short private "practice" took place on a parking area of an American supermarket. On prequalification day of Phoenix the world saw Coloni's "new" model C3B which wore a white, red and green livery. Without an airbox but with wide, long sidepods, it looked like a tank, was overweight by 300 pounds and nearly impossible to handle. Neither at Phoenix nor at any other event, did Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's new driver, manage to prequalify the car. As the season went on, improvements were few and results stayed nowhere. Meanwhile, no success could be seen at Coloni's plant in Perugia where obviously nobody worked seriously on a new car. In May, Enzo Coloni was sacked by Subaru, but no improvement came. In June, the Japanese company withdrew completely and sold the team back to Enzo Coloni, debt free, but with no sponsors and no engines. By the German Grand Prix Coloni had arranged a supply of Cosworth engines, prepared by Langford & Peck. An improved car also appeared in Germany. The "new" Coloni C3C was simply a 1989 C3 with minor changes in aerodynamics. The car was quicker, but not enough to achieve any serious results. Gachot was usually able to prequalify his car, but the "main" qualification was still out of reach. By the end of the season, Coloni had not taken part in a single Grand Prix"

http://www.f1complete.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=2944

[woody2goody]

Is there anywhere on the internet where you can watch these races? I'm very interested in the 1990-1991 seasons, '91 especially.

I'd love to see a full race at Phoenix particularly.

[52Paddy]

In the pits at Phoenix, the car was assembled for the very first time, and a short private "practice" took place on a parking area of an American supermarket.

I love this. Its stories like this that send shivers up my spine. The mentality that these people must have had. The almost sincerity of the whole affair.



On prequalification day of Phoenix the world saw Coloni's "new" model C3B which wore a white, red and green livery. Without an airbox but with wide, long sidepods, it looked like a tank, was overweight by 300 pounds and nearly impossible to handle. Neither at Phoenix nor at any other event, did Bertrand Gachot, Coloni's new driver, manage to prequalify the car.

Without an airbox! Overweight by 300 pounds! That explains the 5min+ time that Gachot set at pre-quali for the 1990 Phoenix GP.

Thanks for that paragraph tamburello. A concise explanation of the team. What a disaster. Whats worth remembering is that Subaru did not have the top mark appeal that they do today, back in 1990. According to a rallying source (who exactly, I can't remember,) he/she made a comment along the lines of:

"Before the Legacy had hit the rally stages with such success in the early 90s, Subarus were seen as cars driven by farmers in hilly areas. The Impreza emphasized Subarus change of image further and more permanently."

When Subaru teamed up with Coloni, they certainly didn't have their level of prestige that came from their rallying years later.

[52Paddy]

Is there anywhere on the internet where you can watch these races? I'm very interested in the 1990-1991 seasons, '91 especially.

I'd love to see a full race at Phoenix particularly.

There is a good few videos on Youtube. I know that the 1990 Phoenix race is available and had been uploaded by a member called "ImmortalSenna." 1991 though, I'm not sure.

[philipbain]

Is there anywhere on the internet where you can watch these races? I'm very interested in the 1990-1991 seasons, '91 especially.

I'd love to see a full race at Phoenix particularly.

Youtube is a decent bet, or you could try newsgroups or bittorrent

Being a childhood Ayrton Senna fan I have a few races from that era (mainly 1990 - 1993) on old VHS tapes recorded from the BBC at the time (including the iconic Senna vs. Mansell duel at Barcelona in '91, almost touching wheels at 180mph!) which I need to transfer to DVD sometime for posterity. Otherwise the Official FOCA reviews are a decent round up of these seasons though they are still only available on VHS. If you or anyone else are interested in old F1 races then please feel free to send me a private message.

PS. Your right, the Coloni Subaru was 1990, my bad!

[V12]

Pre-qualifying IMO was F1's answer to football's relegation scrap - what it lacked in quality it made up for in pure drama and tension. And the people involved, if less talented and/or resourced, were trying just as hard as the guys at the front and added just as much spectacle as the front-runners for the true enthusiast. It's a shame those days are gone :(

[schmenke]

...Without an airbox! ...

Well, it didn't have a traditional airbox from what I recall. Instead, it had too vertical scoops, one on top of each side pod.