George Russell approves the prospect of fewer Formula 1 practice sessions in the future.
The debate began after F1 chief Stefano Domenicali told Portuguese TV he was in favour of “cancelling” practice during a recent trip to the MotoGP at Portimao.
That view was later clarified, explaining efforts are being made to make practice “more engaging” with rewards or points being considered.
Even so, Russell was among many drivers that backed the idea of reducing the current three one-hour sessions before qualifying held at a normal race weekend.
“We obviously have no testing at all,” he said via RaceFans. “But I think one session is good enough for all of us to do the various things we need to try to help develop.
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“This is still the pinnacle of the sport. You don’t want to be just left with the car that you created at the start of a year with no opportunity to test new things. That is sort of the beauty sometimes, you’ve got this 60-minute session where you can try new things, develop, improve further.
“Whereas if you’re going straight into a session that is points-worthy or there is a reward, you’re less likely to trial new things.”
Russell also believes more track time should be given to the feeder series, noting the disparity between F1 and F2/F3, which gets less than an hour of running.
“Obviously the more practice you do, the more up to speed you’ll be, and the more comfortable you’ll be with the car,” the Mercedes driver continued.
“I don’t think it’s right that Formula 1 has three times the amount of practice that you have in F3 and F2 categories. They should be the ones getting more practice also because they’re doing less races, they don’t get to test that often.”
Two one-hour practice sessions are also held during F1 Sprint weekends, though that could be reduced to one potentially as soon as Baku.
The FIA could fast-track changes to the regulations to introduce the new #F1Sprint schedule from the #AzerbaijanGP #F1 #Formula1 pic.twitter.com/nVU3JkNEjo
— InsideRacing.com (@INSIDERACINGcom) March 31, 2023
And that is the direction Russell thinks the sport should go in.
“No practice would be too little,” he said. “I wasn’t in favour of the sprint races initially, but having done [six] in the two years, I really enjoy the sprint races.
“Having action on a Friday I think is vital for all of us and also for the entertainment factor.”
