Are the New F1 Tyre Regulations for 2016 Too Complicated?

The new qualifying format has been the big story this offseason when it comes to new Formula One regulations. Plenty of fans and drivers are complaining that the live elimination system unnecessarily complicates a qualifying process that wasn't broken—although it has never been tested, so no one knows for sure how it will work.

If you want to see unnecessary complication, though, look no further than the new 2016 tyre regulations. Compared to those new rules, the revised qualifying format looks positively simple.

The previous tyre rules could be explained to an F1 neophyte in just a couple sentences: Pirelli had four different dry-weather compounds—hard, medium, soft and supersoft—and selected two for each race. As long as it did not rain, each driver had to use both compounds at some point during the race.

Now, in an attempt to "improve the spectacle" (that catch-all phrase popular among F1's decision-makers), the tyre regulations have become much more complicated. For a sport looking to attract new fans, that is not a good thing.

First, Pirelli have added a fifth dry-weather compound for 2016, the poorly named ultrasoft.

Why is it poorly named? Quick, ring one of your friends who doesn't follow F1 and ask them which is softer: supersoft or ultrasoft. Exactly—you can't tell based on the name. You just have to know.

Out of the five compounds, Pirelli will choose three for each race. The drivers have 13 sets of tyres to use over the course of a race weekend. Ten sets are at the driver's discretion—they can choose however many they would like of each of the three compounds.

One set, always the softest compound available, is reserved for Q3. Two other sets are selected by Pirelli and must be available for use in the race, and each driver must use at least one of those sets during the grand prix. Those Pirelli-mandated sets can be the same compound or different, but they are the same for all the drivers (in Australia, the first race of the year, the mandatory sets are one medium and one soft).

Drivers will also be able to use all dry-weather compounds in a race, if they choose to do so (and have enough sets available).

There are plenty more details, but those are the basic rules you need to understand if you are tuning in for a race.

Confused yet? You're not alone.

Haas driver Romain Grosjean voiced his confusion on Twitter:

"I don't know what the implications are of the new rules changes, but the engineers don't think it's going to work, and I trust the engineers," said reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton of the new qualifying and tyre regulations, per F1 Fanatic's Keith Collantine.

"So we shall see after race one."

Eventually, we will get used to the changes, but the problem, again, is for new fans. If someone turns on a grand prix for the first time and can't understand what is happening, they are less likely to continue watching.

Of course, it's not all bad. Giving the drivers more choice over which tyres they use should naturally lead to greater variations in strategy (although why not do away with the mandatory Pirelli choices?).

Pirelli racing manager Mario Isola told Autosport's Ian Parkes, "I expect some differences. Maybe these differences will be in free practice and then they will converge to a similar strategy for the race.

"That's because they have very powerful tools of simulation, and they are able to find the best strategy, also with the new regulations."

Hopefully the differing strategies will spill over into the race, but again, no one knows for sure. The new regulations are another shot in the dark by the F1 leadership, hoping they will make for better racing.

Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg, is more optimistic, saying, "The tyres might have a bigger impact than we now predict," according to Autosport's Lawrence Barretto.

"There's three tyres we can use now and people can gamble a little bit more and that will increase the variability and variability is good in that sense.

"That could also increase the excitement thanks to Pirelli."

Of course, with Mercedes' apparent pace advantage over the rest of the field, they may be able to stick with a more conservative strategy and still win regularly.

Behind them, though, perhaps some teams will be more adventurous, pushing the new regulations to their limits in the hopes of stealing a few surprise results. That is where the extra excitement might come from.

Hopefully that is the case—otherwise, we are left with more complicated rules for no apparent benefit. Although that seems to be a trend in modern F1, doesn't it?

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