As pit lane queues catch more drivers out, jeopardy will be especially high in Hungary · RaceFans

In just a few hours, Formula 1 drivers will face perhaps the most high-pressure and, in some ways, most dangerous part of their entire race weekend when they take to the Hungaroring for today’s qualifying session. A session that may prove more critical than most.

But while drivers will be focused on their lap times during the qualifying hour, they will also be paying more attention than usual to the session timer too as it relentlessly counts down to the end of each of the three phases.

Over the first half of the 2024 season, making it around an out-lap before the chequered flag signals the end of a session has become an increasingly complicated matter for teams and drivers. In recent rounds, many drivers have either had their most important laps of qualifying heavily compromised or been unable to complete them entirely due to the growing problem of cars queuing at the end of the pit lane.

But how did this phenomenon become such a headache for teams all across the pit lane and how much of a problem can they expect it to be this afternoon?

Before the maximum lap time

Due to the high speeds achieved by Formula 1 cars, there are few more dangerous situations than a car pushing at the limit suddenly coming across a slow car on the track. It’s a problem that is especially hazardous in qualifying, where drivers do not want to back off in any capacity in case their lap times and grid positions suffer for it.

But this dedication to trying to wring every last tenth of a second out of qualifying laps is, paradoxically, what leads to drivers running so slow during what should be the fastest session of the grand prix weekend. Whether it’s to prepare their tyres until they’ve reached their optimum temperature, ensure they can run their flying lap in clear air or to even grab a tow from the slipstream of rivals ahead in especially high-speed circuits, drivers will exercise patience on their out-laps to put themselves in the best position possible for their push laps.

However, that all too often led to some alarming scenes where drivers on flying laps would have to navigate through packs of slow, off-the-pace rivals through the final sector. The problem has been especially acute in the junior categories where fields are larger – 22 cars in Formula 2 and 30 in Formula 3. At Monza last year the F3 session was red-flagged due to a collision and several F2 drivers missed out on setting a flying lap at the end of qualifying while trying to find the optimal track position.

In a bid to avoid such scenes in Formula 1, FIA race director Niels Wittich opted to extend the maximum lap time rule enforced on in-laps in qualifying sessions to apply to all laps in qualifying at Monza. This appeared to successfully avoid any farcical situations in the session, but when the rules reverted to normal at the next round in Singapore, a major traffic jam at the final corner developed during qualifying. The stewards reprimanded Max Verstappen for impeding Yuki Tsunoda.

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The next time that teams arrived to a race weekend, in Suzuka the following week, they found that Wittich had applied the maximum lap time rule to ‘all’ laps in qualifying once again. The rule has remained in place ever since.

Pit lane procrastination

But as with anything in Formula 1, nothing is ever simple. The maximum lap time rule may have reduced dangerous situations out on track, but at the cost of moving the queuing in qualifying to the pit lane exit instead.

As drivers do not want to risk a penalty for driving too slowly or lose tyre temperature, it is now better to make space in the pit lane to the car ahead before crossing the pit exit line and joining the track. But front-loading the queue in this way has resulted in several instances of drivers missing out on starting flying laps before the session timer has expired, or packs of cars fighting to get across the line in time and missing out on clear tracks.

During the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez ended up in between the two Alpine cars of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly at the end of the sprint qualifying session due to his position in the pit lane. Due to how late Perez left the pit lane in the queue, he was forced to push to reach the timing line before the chequered flag, managing to do so with just seconds to spare but having to run directly behind Ocon for his final effort.

“I don’t know what Esteban was doing there,” Perez said after the session. “Apparently he had to go really slowly and I did my final lap within half a second of him and there was no chance.”

The following weekend at Silverstone, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso both had their final qualifying laps compromised when they left the pit lane with under two minutes remaining at the end of Q3. Piastri was passed by Carlos Sainz Jnr and Alonso on his out-lap, before overtaking the Aston Martin driver at the penultimate corner. All three cars crossed the line with under ten seconds remaining before the chequered flag.

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Piastri spent his entire flying lap within the dirty air of Sainz’s Ferrari ahead. The McLaren driver later claimed that his final effort was “not really a lap” as a result of having to run behind the Ferrari. He did not improve on his personal best time with his final run, leaving him in fifth on the grid. The same was true for Alonso, who ended Q3 slowest of all in tenth, three-tenths slower than team mate Lance Stroll

Aston Martin’s situation in Silverstone was unique for them in that it was the only round of the season in which the team were located at the end of the pit lane, in the garages closest to pit exit, rather than their usual position towards the middle of the pit lane. During a late rush or when a session is red-flagged, there are also rules restricting when and how drivers can merge into the fast lane of the pit lane and join the queue, with Wittich clarifying the rules about how cars should merge in the event notes for the Monaco Grand Prix.

After Alonso’s final Q3 run in Silverstone was compromised by how late he got out onto the circuit, Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough pointed to their position in the pit lane and Alonso being forced to queue as having affected his opportunity to prepare for his final push lap.

“Obviously with the current regulations, getting out when everybody’s in the pit lane is very difficult,” McCullough explained to media including RaceFans after qualifying at Silverstone. “You can’t barge your way in, you can’t blend in.

“We had two cars in Q3, which was nice to have. We didn’t want to be first out, but we knew if we left it too late, then you could be trapped into people messing around at the pit lane exit. So with Lance, we didn’t want him to be second on track, but we had to go at that point or else we wouldn’t have got both cars out. So there was a bit of a penalty running so early in that last run in Q3 when the track was still improving.

“And then with Fernando, the way that everybody boxed up and ran nose-to-tail meant we couldn’t squeeze out. So, in hindsight, we should have gone earlier and we would’ve been sat in the debrief saying, ‘why were we the first two cars to go out?’. But the bottom line is we didn’t give him the opportunity to do a good out-lap and to start the lap before the clock finished. So we’ve got to do a better job there.”

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More bother in Budapest?

No doubt teams will be alert to the fact drivers have been increasingly caught out by the delta time and pit lane rules in recent races. But will they all avoid falling into the same trap this weekend?

The Hungaroring could see more trouble with drivers fighting over the opportunity to start a flying lap at the end of the session, partly because a good starting position is so valuable at this track.

With its many twisting turns and lack of overtaking opportunities, there are fewer chances for drivers to jump ahead of rivals on track if they find themselves pressed for time at the end of any of the three segments of qualifying. This is a particularly short lap, with just 4.3km covered in 76 seconds by the quickest cars.

This means, compared to the much longer Silverstone, there’s more chance of being caught by drivers on flying laps if you’re one of the last in the queue to leave the pit lane. This exact scenario befell Mercedes driver George Russell at the circuit last season, with him being unceremoniously eliminated from Q1 and forced to start the race from 18th place.

There’s also the question of how long drivers can and should be allowed to wait at the end of pit lane before they take to the circuit. Verstappen was investigated for ‘driving unnecessarily slowly’ at the pit exit during grand prix qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, but avoided a penalty. Drivers do, however, run the risk of attracting the stewards if they dawdle for too long at the exit of the pit lane.

With the field increasingly close at the front, having a crucial qualifying lap even slightly compromised could be the difference between several rows on the grid. And on a track such as the Hungaroring, notoriously one of the tougher tracks on the calendar for overtaking, it could prove an especially punishing afternoon for at least one driver and team.

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