Multiple Formula 1 team bosses have come out in support of permanently adopting a two-day weekend format after the Eifel Grand Prix.
Rain and fog at the Nurburgring meant the whole of Friday was lost, leaving teams just the final one hour of practice on Saturday as preparation.
Some teams took the opportunity to use the shortened schedule as an opportunity to trial their approach for next weekend’s Emilia Romagna GP at Imola, which will see just one 90-minute session before qualifying.
But while the impact on the sport is positive, even those in favour admit a key downside.
“In my own opinion, a two-day event works well,” Haas chief Guenther Steiner said. “It allows us to get more races in, which in turn means more fans around the world could get the chance to see us.
“The cons, which I don’t know if they’re cons – that’s for Formula 1 to look into it, it’s for the promoters, as a Friday gives more possibilities to get fans in. Financially it’s a good day for them.
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“Maybe some events we go to we could put on a Thursday and Friday test, we can make something like we do with pre-season testing and the broadcasting of that,” he suggested.
“These are just ideas, I don’t know if they make sense but maybe we should look into that.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed, saying less running would force teams to think much more on their feet.
“Personally, I like it a lot. The less testing you have, the less data collection, the more you will create variability,” he said.
“It’s not the strongest that wins but the most adaptable, the most innovative team, the driver that is able to learn the track and the tyres as quickly as possible. If that was a proposal they have my vote.
“Obviously, it’s a question that needs to be asked of the promoters because they are selling tickets on a Friday,” the Austrian noted.
“Many people are not able to afford the weekend tickets, and they can still see Formula 1 cars on Friday, and that is something that needs to be considered when developing that idea.
“But from a sporting point of view, I find it good.”
McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl warned, however, that F1 shouldn’t use it as an excuse to expand the schedule much beyond the current 22 races.
“Shortening the weekends to Saturday and Sunday will have a positive influence,” he was quoted by Motorsport-Total.com.
“But it doesn’t affect how many races you can do. I would not justify that we can then use more weekends.
“The problem for me is that you are away from home on these weekends and that is not sustainable for our team members.”
Sebastian Vettel though is among those against eliminating the three hours of running on Friday.
“If no one drives on Friday, then people have no reason to come to the track on Friday and there is less program on the weekend,” he commented.
“You don’t get the chance to really work on the car and on the set-up. That way, the focus is more on the work you do before the event starts.
“This engineering power is then taken away. So I’m not sure what the plan for the future looks like. I’d rather cancel Thursday than Friday.”