The F1 Grand Prix format could change.
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, has proposed a major change to Grand Prix weekends. Under the Italian’s leadership, novelties have been introduced in recent times, such as sprint races, and now Domenicali is committed to eliminating free practice or, at least, giving the format a spin.
On-track activity for the drivers during the Formula 1 Grand Prix begins on Friday with two free practice sessions, in which the drivers and teams prepare both qualifying and the race, which are held on Saturday and Sunday respectively. In addition, just before qualifying, a third additional test session is held.
These three test runs, of one hour each, are particularly interesting for engineers and drivers, who can verify that the performance seen at the factory and in the simulator corresponds to reality. But, for the public, it has much less value.
“I am in favor of eliminating free practice sessions, which although they are very useful for the engineers, are not liked by the public,” Stefano told Portuguese television SportTV last weekend, when he attended the start of the MotoGP championship at the Circuito from the Algarve (Portugal).
Although the published statements have been these, Domenicali has long wanted to make changes to the current system of three hours of training, and he does not mind innovating or the criticism that there may be, as there has already been to Sprint races. And, rather than make the three sessions disappear, it seems more likely that they will be cut or include “incentives” for the fastest.
A few months ago, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, Domenicali was already talking about this possibility:
“Each (practice) session should award points, or do individual qualifying laps, or qualify for a different, shorter race on Saturday, to be held instead of third practice, perhaps with the grid mechanism reversed.” , he pointed.
According to the information published by Motorsport.com, there are already several ideas on the table to make changes to the weekend program to help improve the show, a strategy that, after all, has paid off well. to Formula 1.
