90 replies to this topic

[SophieB]

Speaking at an event in Austin, Brawn opened up on future prospects for a 25-race calendar, suggesting that scrapping Friday running is an option to ease logistical pressure on the teams.

However, he also admitted that the idea of a two-day race weekend clashes with efforts to give promoters something more to sell, with a number of European races having this year expanded to the four-day format used by the Australian Grand Prix, with support categories running on Thursday.

 

 

Ross Brawn:

 

“I think the core race is still for me personally very important, we’re not looking at changing the core event. But open question, do we need Friday running? Because if we didn’t have Friday running, we could do more races, because logistically it’s better for the teams. But Friday running is important for the promoters and the broadcasters. How do we find the right solution?

“So we’re looking at all those elements to see the best way forward. Quality is the vital thing with the races, we mustn’t just add races because we can increase the numbers, because it’s not sustainable. We’ve got races in the past that came, the quality wasn’t there, and they fall away, and that’s not great for our business.”

 

 

source: https://www.motorspo...fridays-969780/

 

I do not know how I feel about this. At first I was all 'oh hell no' but then I thought about how I sought of see the FP sessions as being like little unofficial, well if not races, then as demonstrations of pace anyway, even if I know that's not what they're for. Broadly, I like they're thinking about new approaches, I guess?

 

What do you think?

[Marklar]

Less races are better and friday is the best day for fans.

I wouldnt mind it if we just had 2 days weekends, but fans should then have the same access as on friday. And again: we dont need more races.

[Gary Davies]

Crikey... no! Even with the number of races we have already, my trouble and strife gives me merry hell about the Formula One season getting in the way of holidays, weekends away etc. 

[Calorus]

Crikey... no! Even with the number of races we have already, my trouble and strife gives me merry hell about the Formula One season getting in the way of holidays, weekends away etc. 

 

This is a genuine problem for me. There's about 7 hours of track time I'd like to watch on a given race weekend. I don't watch build up and try to minimise session analysis as it is.

Edited by Calorus, 24 October 2017 - 07:31.

[Jovanotti]

...or how about the other way round: More testing and practice time and less races?

[kpastri]

More races and keep the Fridays

[ensign14]

I came up with the solution yonks ago.

 

Ditch qualifying.  Start them in reverse championship order.  That way the Brains Trust which seems to have been inventing ever more creative ways to prevent overtaking will reverse its stance and do something sensible.  Like banning wings.

 

On the Saturday, to replace qualifying, have an hour long race.  For drivers who have never had a WC start.  It's not so long ago that teams habitually brought three cars along, so use those instead.  Start them in reverse WCC order.  

 

That has the benefit of having an extra race for the weekend, blooding new stars so that they're used to F1 for the race itself, and maybe encouraging teams to get in proper drivers rather than the Gelaels or Jordas for such a race.

[HoldenRT]

Not this again.. *facepalm*

 

My NBA team plays 4 days a week, and someone very close to the team and who sometimes interviews them post game (like a TV presenter).. he started with an online blog a few years ago and became close to the team in real life due to the power of the internet.. it's not even his full time job,h e's a finance guy.. but it's a pretty cool part time side hobby to be able to do that.. it's a pretty cool story..

 

..anyways he had to attend a wedding a few days ago so guess what he did.. he went to the wedding and then watched the game that he missed at a later point.. that he had recorded.  No wives upset, crisis averted.  That's the wonder of modern technology.  How this option escapes some people's minds.. I'm not sure.

 

Friday for me is a pointless day, I wonder how it could be the best day for the fans.. especially the first 30 mins of FP1.  I can't remember the last time I watched it.. maybe if they payed me I would???

 

It's basically just teams testing new parts and the data gathering which is tedious and doesn't even mean much in terms of pace since fuel loads are different.  It's basically winter testing, except one day every 2 weeks instead of 4 weeks straight (thankfully).  The drivers hate it.  Maybe the fans at the circuit are treated to certain things on a Friday, but are those things related to the cars being on track?  I would have thought the best day for the fans (with cars on the track) is Sunday.

 

My initial thought when reading the OP, was that one upside of eliminating Friday would be more open races, due to the cars not being so hooked up due to perfect setups (best seen at Barcelona since they test there so much).  You sometimes see that with weekends that are rained out.  It adds a bit more variability and sometimes puts drivers more out of their comfort zone.  Instead of all of them being on rails all the time.  It could be good in some ways.  I'm not sure how eliminating Friday means more races though.  I don't really understand how it eases things logistically.. surely if you fly all of this stuff to Singapore or Japan or Mexico.. staying an extra day or two isn't much more expensive or much harder.  It's getting there at all that's the hard part.

 

I thought that was the whole reason for those post grand prix testing sessions they sometimes have, on the Monday or Tuesday after the GP.

[jstrains]

I would ditch FP to give the teams less time to set up the cars for the race itself...

[HoldenRT]

...or how about the other way round: More testing and practice time and less races?

 

Or to take it even further, how about 11 months of winter testing and summer breaks and one month of races (one race per week).  I'm sure Alonso/McLaren would vote for that.

[f1paul]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[TheFish]

I would ditch FP to give the teams less time to set up the cars for the race itself...

 

Exactly this. Would make the races more unpredictable.

[SenorSjon]

More of the same is not always a good thing...

 

There was a topic on this not long ago, also about expanding to 25 races. A race means 4% for the championship then and can hardly be called a Grand Prix anymore. Tracks would pay less for events, since a GP is less rare. Audience would deem events 'missable' and with the move away from FTA, they are already used to missing events. I was perfectly fine with 16-18 races a year. Every race counted for something (6,25%/race means a race is worth 1.6 times more than with 25 races) and freak events such as rain had a larger impact. I remember old races better than new ones to be frank. It gets a mist of many races/year now.

 

 

 

I fear they will try to add 5 street tracks or car parks.

[Laster]

We don’t need more races, 20 is just the right amount to me. I also hazard a bet if they scrapped fridays weekend tickets would remain the same price despite having one less day to enjoy. Fans will also have less access to drivers and teams as all their running will be crammed into Saturday, so less time will be made available to them.

Really I can only see positives for the promoter who gets more money in the bank from having more races. What extra is given to the teams will likely just cover the costs.

[Nonesuch]

"Friday running is important for the promoters and the broadcasters"
 
I get the first part, but the second? How many people really take/have 20 Fridays off to watch F1 cars drive two dozen frequently interrupted laps doing who knows what?

 

The practise idea wouldn't make a difference to me as I often only watch the race in full, but more races still sounds like a bad idea in this age of fixed-order running.

 

Does F1 really need five more races to know which team is best?

[JeePee]

I do not want more races. Every extra race makes the existing ones less important and special. Friday also helps the build up of the weekend and gets me into the groove for qualifying and the race.

 

It's also very expensive and bad for the environment to fly those five or seven 747 cargo jets around the world an extra 5 times.

 

Ditch the halo, not Friday practice.

[Spillage]

I don't think there's anything wrong with the current format.

[Dalton007]

20 races feels about right to me, but I'd expand the weekend to include a sprint race on Saturday which would start with a reverse grid based on last weekend's race results. 

[peroa]

20 races is max. for me. Otherwise the season drags on for too long.

It is diluted.

 

I don't get Brawn's logic. The stuff has to be there, if it's there for 1 day more or less doesn't really make a difference.

[kosmos]

I don't want more races, I want more testing, allow teams to test on monday in some circuits, whenever is possible.

[Dalton007]

Expanding the calendar means more engines again. It's already 3 for next season. I thought everyone wanted to cut costs?

 

Maximising the 20 weekends is better use of resources --- by having a sprint race gives us more race action.

[rockdude101]

I would openly challenge Brawns assertion on Friday being good for broadcasters. I doubt SkyF1 gets that many and when C4 shows it live, probably even less. 

[Tsarwash]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

If it ain't making enough money for us, how can we squeeze more out of this cash cow ? 

[Graveltrappen]

Scrap Friday practice and have Saturday for practice with qualifying and the race on Sunday.

Or have practice and qualify on Saturday with another practice session/warmup on the Sunday before the race.

[teejay]

More engines and tyres with a third rookie/similar driver in practice to create a quasi testing team. 

 

Teams must run x amount unless genuine car issue or they can't run in practice the next race. 

[Graveltrappen]

20 races is max. for me. Otherwise the season drags on for too long.
It is diluted.

I don't get Brawn's logic. The stuff has to be there, if it's there for 1 day more or less doesn't really make a difference.

Indeed. There’s 3 races left this year and I’m already feeling ‘meh’... looking forward to a decent winter and then some Halo related anguish in the spring.

[Buttoneer]

Struggling to see how going to additional places resolves any logistical problems at all, other than an additional day to set up when there's only a week between.

[Regazzoni]

Less races, 17-18 tops. Championship ends no later than mid-October. Winter testing at Paul Ricard, come rain or shine, as in the old times.

[F1Gui]

Friday - practice and qualifying
Saturday - reverse grid sprint race (half points)
Sunday - main race

That would do it for me.

[anachronox]

The richer teams will be set to gain investing lot more money on simulators, the lesser ones will be taking the beating. Not a fair thing!

[SenorSjon]

Expanding the calendar means more engines again. It's already 3 for next season. I thought everyone wanted to cut costs?

 

Maximising the 20 weekends is better use of resources --- by having a sprint race gives us more race action.

 

A sprint race makes F1 more like F2. Just no. It is called Grand Prix for a reason. We don't do LeMans in 2x12 hours, but in 1x24.

 

I would openly challenge Brawns assertion on Friday being good for broadcasters. I doubt SkyF1 gets that many and when C4 shows it live, probably even less. 

 

A lot of the pre-Q and Race programs are made with footage from FP1-3 to fill a program. If you skip Friday, the drivers still need to be available for the press (perhaps even more than now).

[SophieB]

Struggling to see how going to additional places resolves any logistical problems at all, other than an additional day to set up when there's only a week between.

 

I had to read it through a couple of times too. I *think* it's not so much 'running more races will ease the logistical burden that teams have now' so much as 'Teams: we're going to put much more races on you - wouldn't be helpful if some of those new races were in places you're going to be in anyway?'

[ANF]

Brawn: "I think the core race is still for me personally very important, we’re not looking at changing the core event."

[Monaco7]

From what I am reading, it seems on the thread people are against more races.  Which doesn't answer the question of Friday practice.

 

I don't know what the fan gets from Friday practice?  I go to a reasonable number of GP throughout the season and I rarely, if ever go to Friday practice, nor do I watch it on the TV as it is on during the working day.  I sometimes have it on in the background, but I am not watching it.  I'm off to Brazil and AD and won't be at Friday practice at either but will spend the whole day at the circuit on Saturday & Sunday watching all the support races etc. 

 

Like most on here I consider myself a purist having watched the sport for as long as I have, that being said, I am not change averse at all if I can see a benefit, and to be honest, getting the F1 cars on track more often on a Saturday & Sunday when the stands are full (fuller) makes sense to me.  Have a 1.5 hour session Saturday morning, then qualify and yes, let them practice Sunday too,  why not?  Gives the fan more reasons to head to the circuit IMO and also makes the TV more fast-paced fitting the GP2/GP3/Support around more meaningful F1 test sessions.  There is too much 'down time' at the race track between sessions, go to a club meeting at your local track and it is action packed, go to an F1 event and it has too many gaps, partcularly when GP2/GP3 aren't supporting.

 

I don't really see why more races should dilute the quality of the Championship either, albeit with the current Mercedes domination I understand how it could backfire, but surely the same could be said of the 'good ole days'? Nigel in 1992 won the big trophy by Hungary, in a 16 race Championship with 5 races of the season remaining.  Was his 1992 trophy more special because it was a 16 race calendar?  I don't see that, so for me I consider Ross's proposal a good one and a tangible way to improve the product.

Edited by Monaco7, 24 October 2017 - 09:27.

[chunder27]

Make Friday cheaper maybe, but it is necessary it has basically replaced testing.

 

But it needs to be much cheaper once F1 is behind a tv paywall to encourage people to go and see it

[Ruusperi]

The more action on the track, the better. I wouldn't mind them starting on Thursday with free 12-hour practice session, then on Friday maybe another 6 hours (to allow supporting classes to practice as well). That way fans would have a lot to see instead of dull pauses between the sessions. Of course that wouldn't work with current rules for gearbox and engines lasting X amount of races, so what we need is unlimited parts and no parc ferme. That would also create more technical retirements and more opportunities for teams like Sauber and Toro Rosso to get occasional podiums.

Oh, and bring back warm-up session.

 

But seriously, F1 have dozens of bigger problems (pace inequality, prize money, DRS, engine noises, track limits, halo etc) and they are concentrating on totally irrelevant problems, that are not problems. Didn't they learn anything from Bernie's "improve the show" ideology that led to the qualifying fiasco?

[skicrack]

 

I do not want more races. Every extra race makes the existing ones less important and special. Friday also helps the build up of the weekend and gets me into the groove for qualifying and the race.

 

It's also very expensive and bad for the environment to fly those five or seven 747 cargo jets around the world an extra 5 times.

 

Ditch the halo, not Friday practice.

 

 

Isn't that why we have these eco friendly lawnmowers in the back of the cars?  Formula 1 is such a green sports  

[Lights]

I'm not sure where the wish for more than 20 races is coming from. Who actually wants that?

[peroa]

No Friday practice means even less running for the cars and drivers.

 

I don't know if Ross is aware, but these cars are being run very, very little during the whole season.

 

Evaluating young drivers at a weekend will become nearly impossible and then everybody will be moaning about lack of youngsters and opportunities.

[peroa]

I'm not sure where the wish for more than 20 races is coming from. Who actually wants that?

The "bad hombres", emmm Americans probably.

 

The drivers and especially mechanics certainly not ...

[Fonzey]

Nope, not needed.

 

Friday races are likely to have weak TV viewing audiences because of 9-5 workers, Friday is also a great day for spectators on-site to have a leisurely walk around the circuit and facilities watching the cars from as many (or as few) corners, straights and braking zones as they like without the pressure of rushing to a seat at 7am and staying still all day long.

 

I might actually prefer Fridays and Saturdays to Sundays when I attend a GP weekend!

[Jon83]

Friday is a great day for the fans attending.

 

The format is the last thing needing changed. 

[McLaren]

The only Friday practice sessions that really get me excited, are Practice 1 & 2 of the season opener. That is where you can better gage the pecking order of the teams for the first time since winter testing. I also enjoy the practice sessions in Monaco and some of the other street tracks (but more so quali in Monaco, but the race is pretty boring).

Edited by McLaren, 24 October 2017 - 10:50.

[Paul Parker]

More races?

 

I don't think so, this has all the signs of mission creep and downgrading F1 which is already subjected to daft, unnecessary penalty rules and inflexible diktats that has created the current Mercedes domination, which ruins the racing for most of the teams, drivers, spectators and viewers, in my opinion.

[NateF]

How about reducing the number of races to 17 again, this time ten years ago the season was wrapped up.

[Knowlesy]

Meh.

[RainyAfterlifeDaylight]

We will get used to it if it happens.

[SenorSjon]

So when does someone new to F1 learn to drive a F1 car? He may not test, he may not drive on Friday when this pulls through. So when does someone new gets to learn F1? You can't simulate everything.

[statman]

Quite like the current format. Sort of a build up to quali and the race.

[Peter Perfect]

17 races seems about right to me. The more races there have been the less important each weekend becomes. It just turns into a treadmill instead of a series of significant events.

 

Same as football...

 

 

As for the weekend format, this comes up every year at some point. I seem to remember a few years ago I suggested practice/qualifying on the Saturday, race on the Sunday and followed by testing on the Monday. That would (hopefully) end up making each race a little bit unpredictable while allowing teams to concentrate on developments instead of prepping for a specific race (i.e. a proper test session).

Edited by Peter Perfect, 24 October 2017 - 11:44.