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Throughout the days when Michael Schumacher and Ferrari held a vice-like grip excessive step of the rostrum, System 1 drivers not solely loved near-unlimited testing however 4 particular person observe classes throughout a grand prix weekend – in addition to a 30 minute pre-race heat up.
In complete, drivers obtained two hours of observe on Fridays, two 45 minute observe classes on Saturdays forward of qualifying and half-hour of pre-race working earlier than the race itself for a complete of 4 hours of uncompetitive observe time to assist be taught circuits, tune their set ups and check out components.
Over the following 20 years, the format of race weekends have modified however the 4 hours of complete observe time remained. As a substitute, drivers would get two 90-minute classes on a Friday adopted by a single hour-long observe earlier than qualifying. That was nonetheless greater than three hours extra observe time than System 2 drivers would get earlier than qualifying – and nonetheless do – regardless of System 1’s drivers being thought of as essentially the most elite on the planet.
Then, in 2020, System 1 determined to experiment at Imola with a compressed two-day weekend format the place groups and drivers got only a single 90-minute observe session earlier than being thrown into qualifying after which the race. The following season, half-hour had been chopped off each Friday observe classes which diminished complete preparation time to a few hours. And with the introduction of dash races later that 12 months, drivers now often get only a single hour of observe earlier than Friday qualifying after which two aggressive classes on Saturdays earlier than Sunday’s grand prix.
Lately, observe time has change into a subject of debate once more with the testing of the Various Tyre Allocation format on the Hungaroring. Lowering every driver’s dry tyre units from 13 for a grand prix weekend to 11 led many to complain that they might be incentivised to not run throughout observe classes in an effort to save tyres. However there are additionally those that really feel decreasing observe time over weekends would profit the game by difficult drivers and creating extra pleasure.
So is it time for System 1 to contemplate making only a single observe session the brand new regular?
For
Many drivers, together with Mercedes’ George Russell, really feel only a single one-hour observe session is ample for the supposed finest drivers on the earth. “I don’t assume it’s proper that System 1 has 3 times the quantity of observe that you’ve got in a F3 and F2 classes,” he mentioned in Melbourne. “They need to be those getting extra observe additionally as a result of they’re doing much less races, they don’t get to check that always.”
There’s additionally the truth that much less observe time means much less alternative for groups to hone automobile set ups and for drivers to get dialled right into a circuit. That, naturally, places drivers beneath better strain when it counts and results in the next likelihood of errors or high groups making the improper decisions on set ups and opening alternatives for groups decrease down.
That each one ought to make for much less predictable and extra thrilling races in addition to that means that the drivers themselves could make extra of a distinction to their last ending positions out on observe.
In opposition to
Lowering uncompetitive observe time throughout grand prix weekends could add extra uncertainty heading into qualifying and races, however it additionally reduces the period of time that followers get to get pleasure from seeing their heroes on observe on Fridays and Saturdays.
With ticket costs to attend races as excessive as they’ve ever been due to F1’s growth in reputation and inflation, decreasing worth for cash for followers is just not more likely to be common with punters paying to observe stay or with race promoters who need to promote these tickets.
Lowering observe classes additionally places rookie drivers at a big drawback in comparison with veterans in an period the place testing outdoors of race weekends is extra restricted than it’s ever been earlier than. It additionally denies the chance for groups to collect important knowledge on upgrades and components which may result in very conservative growth plans beneath the present price range cap rules, leading to extra static efficiency ranges within the subject over a season.
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I say
Does System 1 want three hour-long observe classes? No, virtually definitely not. Nevertheless, that doesn’t essentially imply that the game ought to cast off the three free observe format.
Transferring to a 3 hour system in 2021 was clearly a great transfer in hindsight and it’s true that predictability will increase with observe time, however it does really feel like youthful drivers would endure from the mixture of solely three days of pre-season testing with solely a single hour of observe earlier than heading into qualifying and a race. Particularly when pondering again to the 1000’s of kilometres of testing Lewis Hamilton was given earlier than he stepped off the airplane in Melbourne for his grand prix debut in 2007.
However the greatest purpose to be involved a few single observe session is that doing so would really feel like opening the door to the proliferation of dash races throughout the entire calendar. Presently, single observe classes throughout dash race weekends permit for qualifying to be held on Friday evenings earlier than dash qualifying and the dash race on Saturday earlier than the grand prix on Sunday. Taking place to a single observe session would both result in two-day grand prix weekends, or, to justify conserving a 3 day weekend, see calls for each spherical to change into a dash race weekend.
That will enchantment to many inside the sport and even some studying this, however alongside Max Verstappen and the various others who would favor for the grand prix to stay the particular occasion that it’s, hopefully the present weekend format stays for the foreseeable future.
You say
Do you agree that F1 ought to cut back observe classes and have only a single hour-long session each grand prix weekend?
Do you agree that F1 ought to change to a single one-hour observe session for all rounds?
- No opinion (0%)
- Strongly disagree (53%)
- Barely disagree (19%)
- Neither agree nor disagree (3%)
- Barely agree (13%)
- Strongly agree (13%)
Whole Voters: 32
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