This means that on weekends with sprint races, the drivers only have one practice session to find the right set-up for their cars.
According to team boss Frédéric Vasseur of Ferrari, the ten racing teams in Formula 1 are all behind this change. The FIA international motorsport federation has yet to confirm the adjustment. This season there will also be sprint races of more than 100 kilometers across six GPs. The first is scheduled for later this month in Azerbaijan. The rest are in Austria, Belgium, Qatar, the United States (Austin) and Brazil.
Start order
In recent years, the sprint race results determined the starting order for Sunday’s race. Now the team wants two separate qualifiers; on the Friday before Sunday’s race and on the Saturday before the sprint race on the same day. In that short race, the first eight riders earned points for the World Championship standings.
“I think all the teams were on the same page for once, it was very special,” said Vasseur during a Zoom conversation with international media. “I think it’s a good format. I’m not a big fan of second free practice. It’s a bit boring sometimes. It was a good decision to make the weekend a bit more dynamic. In football you don’t go one day before a training match in a stadium on television. We are probably the only sport in the world that broadcasts training sessions on TV.”
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