Formula 1’s Q2 tyre rule is likely to be dropped for the 2022 season – which would be a popular move with a selection of teams. Since 2014, the regulation has been that drivers who reach the top-10 shootout in qualifying must start the race on the exact set of tyres on which they set their fastest lap time in Q2. The rationale was that those outside the top 10 might be able to gain a strategy advantage on those starting ahead of them by choosing a more durable tyre compound for the race start. But such has been the pace advantage enjoyed by certain teams that they mostly do not need the grip offered by the softest rubber to make it through to Q3, thus enabling them to line up on the...
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