30/08/2019
NEWS STORY
In its determination to 'improve the show', mainly in terms of winning over more young and casual fans, F1 has made no secret of its willingness to change a format that has pretty much gone unchanged for decades.
Talking to Sky Sports, F1 managing director, Ross Brawn admits that a number of ideas are being looked at for the sport's big overhaul in 2021 and that a number of them could be trialled next season.
"I would like to see in 2020 for us to try a few things," said the Briton. "In 2020 we’ve got a stable platform in terms of the cars, things aren’t changing that much and I think that it could be a good opportunity perhaps for one or two races to try some variations.
"I don’t see any other way that we logically progress the race format," he admitted. "I think the basic race format is good, but would a sprint race be interesting, or would some changes to qualifying be interesting.
"I think the teams are up for doing some variations during a Saturday to see if we can try out a better solution."
As the sport seeks to reduce spending, yet further expand the calendar, Brawn admits that he would like to see race weekends shortened, particularly in terms of setting up.
"We want the cars to run on a Friday," he said, "but is there a way of shortening the weekend from an operational point of view for the teams, because they all turn up on a Tuesday, or even a Monday to get ready
"If we could restrict that, have a tighter parc ferme and controlled the time that a team was at the circuit, then we could shorten the operational weekend for them and turn it into a three-day weekend.
"We remember when you would turn up on a Thursday afternoon and everyone would get there, put the cars in the garage, and go racing. Now they turn up two or three days earlier because they want to get everything ready.
"Fridays are important for the promoters," he admitted, "it starts the weekend off but could we have two sessions on a Friday afternoon for instance? Maybe slightly shorter sessions, and then that means the teams can prepare on a Friday morning."
Check out our Friday gallery from Spa, here.