Christian Horner apologised to the fans for the unsatisfactory and substandard qualifying format that was run for the first time on Saturday ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull Racing team boss felt that the new-look elimination-style qualifying format was far from exciting for Formula 1 fans, and believes there needs to be urgent talks to rectify the issues that have been criticised heavily by fans around the globe before the Bahrain Grand Prix next month.
“For me, this new qualifying system did not work and really we should apologise to the fans,” said Horner, who saw his drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat qualify eighth and eighteenth respectively at Albert Park.
“We have not put on a show for them at all today which is a shame, especially for the first race of the season. It’s not good for qualifying to be done with five minutes to go, drivers and cars need to be out on track fighting for pole up until the last second.
“We should accept that we tried it, it didn’t work and the important thing is we learn from it and address it quickly. Qualifying needs to build up to a crescendo, not what we saw here today.”
