67 replies to this topic

[IrvTheSwerve]

Ok, I actually don’t mind having these Saturday races. Especially with the really long calendar that we now have. There is a history of some races on a Saturday and I wouldn’t mind if this continued into the future…say, if we had 6 or 7 Saturday races. What do you think?

[tifosii]

to be honest, I prefer Saturday races.
feel good, it speed the rhythm of the whole race week，you don’t need wait until Sunday.

[Grippy]

I don't mind Saturday races now i'm retired, but I can imagine Fri qually is annoying for those who work and normally watch it live.

[jonklug]

They're ok, I'd go for a mixture, although it does take a bit to get used to, I felt like it's Sunday all day today. 

[LolaB0860]

I wouldn't mind:

Saturday:
- Americas
- Middle East
- Singapore

Sunday:
- Europe
- Australia
- Rest of Asia

[B Squared]

If you're going to the race only, all Saturdays would be great. Take Friday off and use it and Sunday as travel days if necessary.

[Yoran]

I can certainly get used to these Saturday races. Much more convenient to plan my weekend to catch up with all F1, F2 and F3 (and where needed IndyCar), so the missus doesn’t get too upset about claiming the tv most of the Sunday.

[1player]

Saturday races are good when the season is so boring: at least it feels like my weekend's not completely wasted.

[ARTGP]

Saturday races are okay. 

Edited by ARTGP, 10 March 2024 - 20:07.

[Kvothe]

Saturday races are the one. Nice to have the race done already and be able to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

[Sterzo]

Not bovvered. (Doesn't seem to be a poll option - but that might be because IrvTheSwerve doesn't think anyone not bovvered would reply).

[ANF]

NO! Saturday races means Friday qualifying and Friday F2/F3 races.

[krapmeister]

Big fan of Saturday races here, especially when the races are later than the usual 2/3pm European start times.

[William Hunt]

Up until somewhere in the '70s, the F1 Grand Prix in the United Kingdom, well the British Grand Prix that is, as well as categories like British F3, always raced on Saturday because of (christian protestant) religious reasons (no racing on Sunday allowed until well in the '70s in the UK).

[expert]

Being based in New Zealand the Saturday races are great, cause we can actually watch the race on Sunday.

[EndlessMotion]

I've quite enjoyed the two Saturday races so far, mostly because they fool me into feeling like it's Sunday, only I don't actually have to get up for work the following morning. Makes my weekend feel a little longer

[ensign14]

Saturday races in the football season is ****ing INSANE. 

[Thursday]

Saturday races in the football season is ****ing INSANE. 

The two Saturday races we have had this season have meant that the GP doesn't clash with the City match so that is a good thing.

 

More seriously, a Saturday race in the Middle East makes perfect sense because Sunday is a workday. 

Races on a Saturday also make more sense for the colonies and their funny time zones.

 

I wouldn't want every race to be a Saturday race but I'm totally chill with exceptions.

Have the race on a day and at a time that is convenient to the locals. 

[dissident]

Don't really care since most of the time I'm not able to watch the races live anyway.

[southernstars]

Given the first two races were at 2am and 4am in Australia respectively, it was a unique advantage in that for once, when the race was over, I could go straight back to sleep and sleep as long as I needed, as opposed to making sure I was awake and up for work.

 

However, it also came at another cost: I watched exactly 0 free practice for Jeddah, and only 1 session in Bahrain.

 

EDIT: I would add, a Saturday race would be a decided disadvantage for races like Melbourne, where the support schedule is so packed that they race on the Thursday. If the Grand Prix was moved to Saturday, you'd have to start the Melbourne weekend on a Wednesday - that's a lot more annual leave for racegoers to burn.

Edited by southernstars, 11 March 2024 - 00:27.

[F1 Mike]

Not sure how it can possibly suit the normal working person. I missed the majority of qualifying for both events as I'm still on the travel home when it was on.

The fact the races were on Saturday really frustrated me as it hindered my following of the football.

And it's actually just pure luck that I was free both of those Saturday afternoons.
If it was a late lunchtime race I'd probably have given it a miss.

Ok for a few races, but any more? Forget it count me out.

[Boxerevo]

Loved the races at saturday.

 

They could qualy and race saturday, so i just spent one day off watching Formula 1 and sunday is absolutely free.

[F1 Mike]

Loved the races at saturday.

They could qualy and race saturday, so i just spent one day off watching Formula 1 and sunday is absolutely free.

Yeah but then for the spectators they change a 3 day weekend to a 2 day weekend, but charge the same.... Slippery slope, that

[keshav]

I would prefer a free Sunday.

[Shambolic]

The traditional outside of money before all else structure of practice when few people can/ will watch, an hour of quali when more people have time to watch, and race when most people can watch works nicely.

 

It creates a building tension (well, when you don't have a super dominant car/ driver) over the weekend that's lost when you have practice whjen few can watch, quali when few can watch, race when people have more to do with a Saturday than spend all afternoon watching a race.

[loki]

I’d settle for either day as long as they were actual races…

[Jackmancer]

I live in Shanghai and so most races are at midnight. Obviously staying up late on Saturday is way better than on Sunday.

[Benchulo]

With 23-24 races a season, I would prefer majority of the races on a Saturday. I would go little further and say scrap FP3 and hold qualifying on the same day. And increase the FP1 and FP2 duration.

Edited by Benchulo, 11 March 2024 - 06:41.

[Peat]

I would prefer a free Sunday.

 

[Topsu]

I didn't like it. My body and mind was in shock all Saturday, thinking that tomorrow is a workday. Very weird feeling after 20 years of not missing a race on Sundays.

[PayasYouRace]

Worked quite well with F1 on Saturday and Indycar on Sunday.

But in general I’d prefer the Sunday races.

[Burtros]

Sunday for races. Saturday is for Football!

[Muzzyf1]

All the American races should be Saturday to cater for fans in Australia asia region
These races are now 6am Monday mornings and can't watch them live as we go to work.

[baddog]

Being based in New Zealand the Saturday races are great, cause we can actually watch the race on Sunday.

 

hah yeah its great for us!

[Stephane]

Sunday for races. Saturday is for Football!

From here, it looks like there's always some football happening. Sunday, Saturday, weekdays....

[F1 Mike]

With 23-24 races a season, I would prefer majority of the races on a Saturday. I would go little further and say scrap FP3 and hold qualifying on the same day. And increase the FP1 and FP2 duration.

As I've suggested already, how does this help the fans actually attending the racetrack? A 3 day weekend ticket is cut to 2, and you think they'll get a cheaper ticket? The tracks have to make money, and a shortened weekend will make it impossible for circuit promotors.

Not picking on you in particular, but this very shortsighted opinion seems quite common. A 2 day weekend just wouldn't work financially in my opinion.

[SenorSjon]

No, keep it on Sunday. Normal races are on 14.00 CET (not 15.00, you FOM bastards). But then we would miss qualy (you know, work and all that). The race on a Saturday afternoon would be near unwatchable live with all the kids sports I have a role in.

[azza200]

Sunday for races. Saturday is for Football!

 

You can still watch or go to the football and watch the race in the evening on catch up 

[Benchulo]

As I've suggested already, how does this help the fans actually attending the racetrack? A 3 day weekend ticket is cut to 2, and you think they'll get a cheaper ticket? The tracks have to make money, and a shortened weekend will make it impossible for circuit promotors.

Not picking on you in particular, but this very shortsighted opinion seems quite common. A 2 day weekend just wouldn't work financially in my opinion.

I understand your point. But F1 has to find a compromise. 24 3 day race weekends is too much for the viewers, and for the teams as well. That's shortsighted from F1.

The best solution for F1 and circuit promoters would be tracks alternating every year, with 16-18 races a year, IMO.

[Dutchrudder]

I understand your point. But F1 has to find a compromise. 24 3 day race weekends is too much for the viewers, and for the teams as well. That's shortsighted from F1.

The best solution for F1 and circuit promoters would be tracks alternating every year, with 16-18 races a year, IMO.

Yes, but there are different levels of “hardcore” when it comes to F1 fans, I’d consider myself a hardcore fan having tuned in every Saturday and Sunday for 30 years straight and watching every competitive session live or as-live if work got in the way.

Good on those who have also tuned in every Friday and understood how the practices are going in-depth, but that is a different level of commitment. To move competitive sessions to those days really has made me realise that I don’t need to watch the competitive sessions, I’ve been missing some of the Friday qualis and some of the sprint races, didn’t watch either quali so far this season even on catch up, and only watched highlights of the Saudi race and sadly for the sport it doesn’t look like I missed much.

I congratulate any team dominating but it isn’t great for the sport, I’m not even sure if Schumacher/Ferrari ever had this level of inevitability, at least some tracks favoured Michelin. Lewis always had a better teammate. Vettel seemed to dominate later in the season after winning a development race.

The sport is in the unfortunate situation where they are making it more difficult to tune in at a time when you are less likely to miss anything spectacular if you don’t.

Drive to survive might have some good behind the scenes footage of the RBR domestic, Lando and Oscar trying to win the team over whilst playing the nice guy, Danny Ric’s smile and spins vs Yuki Tsunoda’s temper and inconsistent speed. So maybe Liberty doesn’t care as much if I’m watching Quali on a Friday during the commute.

[F1 Mike]

I understand your point. But F1 has to find a compromise. 24 3 day race weekends is too much for the viewers, and for the teams as well. That's shortsighted from F1.

The best solution for F1 and circuit promoters would be tracks alternating every year, with 16-18 races a year, IMO.

Exactly, but that's a completely different angle of the conversation. Saturday races and a 2 day weekend doesn't lessen time away from home or the travel to each destination.

[Gary Davies]

I'm told the young people are going up to London for the weekend... whatever that might be.

 

[kosmos]

I like Saturday races but having qualy on a Friday at 15:00 European time... I don't think is a good idea. I will totally be up for qualy and race on Saturday.

[MinardiCrashDummy]

Saturday races is something i never knew i needed but now i do, i much prefer it now.

 

Atleast have a mixture of them.

[Ruudbackus]

I didn't mind those first 2 races being saturday races. It actually gave me quite a bit of weekend back! So to me I don't really midn if its satruday or sunday. A mix of both would be good along the lines of what Lola stated

[Benchulo]

Exactly, but that's a completely different angle of the conversation. Saturday races and a 2 day weekend doesn't lessen time away from home or the travel to each destination.

That's why I said they need to find a compromise or a solution. Teams and F1 personnel who travel to each race, fans who attend the event, the regular viewers at home - these three are integral part of the circus. One of them cannot be excluded, when discussing a solution, IMO.

[Beri]

I wouldn't mind:

Saturday:
- Americas
- Middle East
- Singapore

Sunday:
- Europe
- Australia
- Rest of Asia

This. Unimportant races on a day where I'll be likely to miss them. Important ones on a Sunday so I'll be able to watch them.

[JimmyClark]

Yeah I agree, the Saturday race worked quite well in the end. All the best football now tends to be on Sunday anyway, and I've often missed matched for F1, whereas the PL blackout on Saturday gives a nice gap for F1. 

 

And I did feel the weekend was longer. 

 

However, being able to work from home I could watch quali on Friday; I can see why others would be less enamoured with that arrangement. 

[jacdaniel]

With 2 young kids, I quite like the Saturday race. I can try to catch some practice and quali while I work and then it’s just 2 hours I really need to give up on the weekend to watch the race.

[Clatter]

I prefer Sunday races. Once the weather improves I'm out more, so watch the race recorded quite often, less chance of getting a spoiler with the normal schedule.