06/08/2020
NEWS STORY
When F1 announced earlier this week that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend will feature just one practice session, Pitpass was among the very first to criticise the move.
Ignoring the fact that F1 appears to be placing responsibility for the move on the race organisers, the fact is that Imola hasn't hosted F1 cars in anger for 14 years, and many of the current drivers have little experience of the infamous Italian track, far less in F1 machinery. Indeed, Kimi Raikkonen is the only driver on the 2020 grid who has raced an F1 car at Imola.
Speaking ahead of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix weekend, Mas Verstappen described the move as "stupid".
"If we would have had it on a track that we know and we have been driving with the cars we have nowadays, I think it's not a problem at all," said the Dutch youngster.
"At the end, it's the same for everyone," he continued, "so there is no problem with that, I just think it's a bit wrong.
"Give us two sessions to just sort a few things out, just make sure everything is working well instead of just one session.
"The two-day format, I don't really care," he added, "but give us two practice sessions. Even better is to do two one-hour sessions than one one-and-a-half. I think it's a bit stupid."
Asked if he was excited at the prospect of racing there, he admitted: "I'm very excited to go racing there... I just think it's a bit wrong how they did it. It's a shame. It's a great track."
Sebastian Vettel admits that teams will be under pressure to find the right set-up.
"I guess we all get the same amount of time to get into a rhythm, and head into qualifying," he said. "It should be exciting.
"I don't know how many tyres we will have or which sort of tyres yet," he added. "It will be more important probably to just get enough time on the track to get used to it.
"There is less time to set up the car, but nowadays anyway we know where the car has to be. If something feels a bit wrong, you normally get a chance overnight, which now you don't. But the rest will be similar."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Silverstone, here.