5.2 Qualifying Format — Sporting Regulations, Article 14

Qualifying determines the grid order for the race using a three-segment knock-out format: Q1 (18 minutes): All cars participate. The five slowest cars are eliminated and start the race from positions 16–20 in the order of their Q1 times.; Q2 (15 minutes): The remaining 15 cars participate. The fi...

Source: Article 24.6, Article 14.4

Send this to your friend — argument over.