Ross Brawn, Managing Director of F1, has confirmed that Fridays will be revised as part of a revision of the three day Grand Prix format.
Formula 1 is set to re-jig its weekend format a little, from as early as the 2020 season. With next year’s calendar the longest ever at 22 races in total, there has been some speculation of F1 switching to a two day event over Saturday and Sunday. With the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend essentially trialing that format with Saturday’s tracktime cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis, that conversation was back in the spotlight.
F1’s Managing Director Ross Brawn says that the two day format isn’t going to happen any time soon, but that Fridays will see a change of format. Friday is the traditional practice day, with two ninety minute sessions known as FP1 and FP2 taking place.
Brawn confirmed that this will be changed, possibly as early as 2020: “Typhoon Hagibis was a major player at this year’s Japanese Grand Prix, forcing the organisers to cancel all Saturday track activity and reschedule qualifying for Sunday morning, just four hours before the race.” said Brawn.
“So, it was a Super Sunday in Suzuka and that naturally reopened the debate about the shape of an F1 weekend. This is an aspect of the sport we have focused on in some detail as we work towards the rules that will govern F1 over the coming years and we have taken into account the voices of all of the key players – the promoters, the teams and last but not least the fans.”
“I’ll be honest and say that there has been strong consensus, especially among the organisers, for maintaining the three-day format of track activity, although with a different timetable. It’s true that a day like Sunday in Suzuka offers a great show in just a few hours but it would confine the feeder series races to the previous days.”
“After careful analysis we have concluded that the best solution is to keep the event over three days, revising the Friday format but leaving the rest untouched, with qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.”
“In order to meet the demands of the teams and in order to slightly increase the number of Grands Prix, which will be at 22 next year, we have given consideration to reorganising the schedule so that teams and drivers can arrive a day later. We’ll talk about the detail at the end of the month, when the new regulations will be published.”
While Saturday and Sunday appear to be going ahead without any changes, what is possible is that the traditional ‘media day’ on Thursday is scrapped, and is instead held on Friday morning. Assuming a reduction in practice time is the proposed change, Friday afternoon would then be kept free for a practice session which would be held in conditions more representative of a Grand Prix – unlike the morning FP1 sessions.
There has also been some discussion of a trial of a new qualifying format, in the form of ‘qualifying races’. This is set to be trialed at three Grands Prix in 2020, namely the French, Belgian and Russian races. The ‘qualifying race’ grid would be determined by reverse championship order, with the real Grand Prix then taking its starting order from the results of the qualifying race. This proposal has not been formally confirmed yet.
