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Steiner: Scrap all Free Practice Sessions


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#251 AustinF1

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 16:52

I can just see the teams rolling into COTA on a Wednesday, prepping to qualify with no practice. "It's all good. We'll just rely on our old data", they say. Then the track scan results come back. As it does every year, the COTA  racing surface has changed dramatically. 2 or 3 GPs ago, Jennie Gow said team scans revealed that the track had heaved up and down & moved left and right since the last GP, in some places as much as 1.5 meters. An engineer walks in ... "Oh and they did another round of grinding and repaving over the winter, 10 months ago, but only in chunks around the track, here and there, so we also have numerous different ages and compositions of racing surfaces with varying grip levels throughout. And the repaved sections have moved & heaved some more since then as well". Good times ...



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#252 KeithD68

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:04

Sounds nice, but very naive if you truly think it could happen without losing the teams.

 

I'm not naive and I don't expect for a second anyone involved in this mickey mouse sports entertainment to have any interest in going back to being a sport



#253 MikeTekRacing

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:22

I'm not naive and I don't expect for a second anyone involved in this mickey mouse sports entertainment to have any interest in going back to being a sport


That’s fair. Nobody will want to say no to the cash

#254 LolaB0860

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:43

No I don't. I'd rather they go radical and run the sprint race in reverse championship order.

 

The bottom teams would prioritize finishing last in the GPs in order to get good Sprint grid positions then, because all of sudden they'd be eligible to fight for points in the lesser, shorter, easier races

 

The only way it could work if Sprint was worth almost nothing and GP was worth zillion, but in that case you might not have the Sprint at all since it's so meaningless (not that it should exist in the first place anyway, but you know...)



#255 Ruusperi

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:45

If they're going to have only single FP session during sprint weekend, I hope they would also change the rule of not stopping the clock in the case of red flag. Now, if someone crashes in the very first minute damaging the barrier, that's the whole session and all practice time gone unless they stop the clock. Or at least make FP1 last 1h 30 minutes or even 2 hours.



#256 LolaB0860

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:49

If they're going to have only single FP session during sprint weekend, I hope they would also change the rule of not stopping the clock in the case of red flag. Now, if someone crashes in the very first minute damaging the barrier, that's the whole session and all practice time gone unless they stop the clock. Or at least make FP1 last 1h 30 minutes or even 2 hours.

 

Doing that messes up the support race schedule (for the events that actually have support races that is) unless there's pre-determined timeslot of 90-120 minutes for 60 minute sessions



#257 Ruusperi

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:57

Doing that messes up the support race schedule (for the events that actually have support races that is) unless there's pre-determined timeslot of 90-120 minutes for 60 minute sessions

At least Qatar and Interlagos don't have FIA support series (F2, F3, Porsche Supercup) this year. And historically it's not been a problem for support series to adjust their schedule, for example, from 10am to 8am. F1 always comes first. Besides, usually there's like 1h - 2h gaps between sessions, so there's already room for squeezing the timetable.



#258 pdac

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 17:58

If they're going to have only single FP session during sprint weekend, I hope they would also change the rule of not stopping the clock in the case of red flag. Now, if someone crashes in the very first minute damaging the barrier, that's the whole session and all practice time gone unless they stop the clock. Or at least make FP1 last 1h 30 minutes or even 2 hours.

 

They have schedules to meet. Unless they build in a buffer to allow for stoppages, then they can't really do that.



#259 Anderis

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Posted 05 April 2023 - 21:21

The bottom teams would prioritize finishing last in the GPs in order to get good Sprint grid positions then, because all of sudden they'd be eligible to fight for points in the lesser, shorter, easier races

I don't think it works like that in the long term.

 

You finish last in the GP in order to get good sprint grid positions- then you score points in the sprint and you're not last in the standings anymore anyway. Might as well score in the main GPs. Trying to keep last for the entire season is counter-productive, isn't it? At worst we will see a few drivers abandoning 1st and maybe 2nd GP of the season if they're in a bad position. By mid-season it doesn't make sense anymore.

 

The question is- what about teams putting a new driver in the car to get a pole position in the sprint, though, as any new driver will be last in the championship by default. :rotfl:



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#260 Ali623

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 09:40

I wouldn't actually mind reverse grid sprint races, I mean I would prefer no sprint races at all but if they're insistent on them at least reverse grid almost always guarantees they'll be exciting. You could either just do reverse championship order, or something similar to F2/3 and reverse the top 10 from qualifying.



#261 JimmyClark

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 10:51

I'm still very much of the opinion that there should be a separate sprint championship, with each driver giving up 2/6 races to a third/junior driver, and at the last sprint race the final standings are added to the overall championship standings with the usual points system (as if it was an extra race).

#262 F1 Mike

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 16:02

I just want them to leave everything alone. There's nothing wrong with what we have now!

#263 ARTGP

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 16:07

I'm still very much of the opinion that there should be a separate sprint championship, with each driver giving up 2/6 races to a third/junior driver, and at the last sprint race the final standings are added to the overall championship standings with the usual points system (as if it was an extra race).

 

If we HAVE to have the sprints, I think a separate sprint championship would be interesting. I wonder if it still makes sense to add those points to the main championship in that case.


Edited by ARTGP, 06 April 2023 - 16:08.


#264 AustinF1

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 16:09

Right. As we can see given recent attendance and viewership, the current format is not broken. Far from it.

 

FOM seems to want to 'fix' that, but what they'll end up doing is breaking it, a la NASCAR, and will end up wandering the desert with them.



#265 pdac

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Posted 06 April 2023 - 18:10

I just want them to leave everything alone. There's nothing wrong with what we have now!

 

That's been correct for years and for many things other than F1 too. But, for some reason, people feel that unless you change and adapt what already works, it will become stale and die. It's a sad fact that once more than one person is involved in organising and managing something, there will always be pressure to change it (and change it again, and again).



#266 RedRabbit

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Posted 07 April 2023 - 15:04

That's been correct for years and for many things other than F1 too. But, for some reason, people feel that unless you change and adapt what already works, it will become stale and die. It's a sad fact that once more than one person is involved in organising and managing something, there will always be pressure to change it (and change it again, and again).


Changing ownership or CEOs also has that effect. Change simply for the sake of change

#267 Clatter

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Posted 07 April 2023 - 15:52

Changing ownership or CEOs also has that effect. Change simply for the sake of change


That is very true. One company I was at, we were in constant flux of reorganising as each new boss came in. Not sure we ever got to the end of a reorg, before the next one started.

#268 AustinF1

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Posted 07 April 2023 - 17:32

That is very true. One company I was at, we were in constant flux of reorganising as each new boss came in. Not sure we ever got to the end of a reorg, before the next one started.

Yep. Even if the operation runs like a well-oiled machine, the new bosses want to change things up to show their worth - even though the best thing to do would be to leave it alone.



#269 pdac

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Posted 07 April 2023 - 20:08

Yep. Even if the operation runs like a well-oiled machine, the new bosses want to change things up to show their worth - even though the best thing to do would be to leave it alone.

 

This is even more true in creative industries and positions - like being brought in as the new TV director for the F1 coverage.