Formula 1 should consider adopting the compressed, two-day schedule which has been forced upon it at Suzuka, says Lewis Hamilton.
All the track running at Suzuka this weekend will take place on two days – Friday and Sunday – due to the arrival of Super Typhoon Hagibis on Saturday. Hamilton says he likes the idea of compressing F1’s usual three-day format into two days.“I don’t mind it,” said Hamilton. “I’m happy for them to do that every year. How many Thursdays [does] that give us back?
“I’m definitely down for that, shortening the weekend, that sounds good. I think it’s quite cool when it’s a little bit different, the format’s different on a Sunday.
“Having that difference, it’s a different mentality to enter into, two different mindsets in the day, two different rhythms. Normally you have time after qualify with one the rhythm to then calm down and chill and ramp up to next day. But you’ve got to do it on the same day. It’s a different challenge, so I like that.”
Formula 1 is considering whether to trial a new qualifying format at up to three races next year. This has prompted objections from those who believe the weekend structure should remain the same as all championship rounds award the same number of points.
However Hamilton would like to see more variation between weekends. “I hope they do some different formats moving forwards, but for different races as well and not just the same format for 22 races, 23 races,” he said.
“I hope they change it for different tracks where there could be this weather or tracks that are not fun to watch the race. In Monaco it’s not particularly fun to watch the race because it’s a train. If you have different formats for those ones maybe who knows.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2019 F1 season
- Crying in the Melbourne car park at 2019 grand prix was my career low – Ocon
- McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
- Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
- How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
RocketTankski
12th October 2019, 10:36
Why rehearse at all? They are pros, they can just show up and do it on the Sunday.
It makes F1 sound like such a chore! :-D
Kris Lord
12th October 2019, 10:43
It may work for a driver who could get an extra day off but i doubt it works for TV companies trying to sell F1 or fans.
How many people realistically want to watch an hour of qualifying and then 2 hours of a race on the same day, with only a couple of hours between them?
If I wanted to watch sky sports all day I’d start watching cricket.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
12th October 2019, 11:26
LOL, ouch!
John
12th October 2019, 11:58
Three hours is all day? Stop sleeping so much!
bren
12th October 2019, 13:24
it is too much for most people with a life. Luckily my gf quite likes to watch it but she wouldn’t want to lose that much of a Sunday and frankly neither would I
Bruno Verrari
12th October 2019, 13:41
With pre-and post, 1+2 becomes 7-8 hours – of an already busy-enough Sunday…
Robbie (@robbie)
12th October 2019, 14:54
Yeah same here. I’m all for them experimenting with quali formats in case they hit on something more exciting, but to remove a day and have two time slots for quali and race on Sunday would just be too awkward. I don’t mind LH’s suggestion of a few different formats for a few unique races though. Overall though, I think the season’s race weekends should be overwhelmingly consistently run for fairness and for comparisons sake, with maybe only a few exceptions like for Monaco for example.
DaveW (@dmw)
13th October 2019, 1:15
That’s not even one baseball game or American football game lol.
Now I don’t even watch Fps anymore because work and family don’t allow the time. I’d watch q and the race on Hulu recorded back to back and make it a solid two hours of exciting watching.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
12th October 2019, 10:52
If you consider the fan at the track, a two-day format might work if there is roughly the same amount of running as now. Move the Friday practice sessions to Saturday morning and noon, with qualifying in the afternoon and supporting categories thrown in to the free time slots.
Bruno Verrari
12th October 2019, 14:05
You’ve ever been to races?
Not good enough – the support categories need time to train and qualify, too..!
ColdFly (@)
12th October 2019, 11:12
It might not work for me, as I typically visit the track on Friday and Saturday and than watch the race on TV on Sunday.
But overallit is a good idea to fill more F1 in the weekend.
For TV and crazy fans like me, I’d add a bit more media and meet-the-fans activity on the Friday.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
12th October 2019, 11:15
It’s not great for people in certain time zones, qualifying will be a non event for me in the UK due to it being in the middle of the night. I plan to try wake up for 6:10am for the race and find out what the grid is then. Suppose my point is certain parts of the world won’t get the chance to ‘catch up’ on events.
DAllein (@)
12th October 2019, 11:27
If this means they leave their dirty hands off the qualifying format – then I can agree.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
12th October 2019, 13:10
you know, f1 is supposed a top level Sport. i struggle to think of another toplevel sport where athletes and teams are prohibited from training to the extent f1 drivers and teams already are. it’s just getting silly imo
pastaman (@)
12th October 2019, 13:27
Don’t encourage them, Lewis!
Mark Spencer
12th October 2019, 13:35
I like the idea of shaking things up a bit. The tracks are all different, so why not let the tracks determine format? I live on the west coast in USA so most of the European and Asian races are happening during sleeping hours, so I always record on my DVR and replay when convenient. I just have to avoid spoiler alerts on social media until I view the race.
vis (@v-i-s)
12th October 2019, 13:38
Ok to compress to a 2-day schedule, but quali should stay on Sat and race on Sun, give newspapers and sites something to speculate on for some hours at least…
Jere (@jerejj)
12th October 2019, 13:45
Once again, there’s nothing wrong with the current F1 race-weekend format, so no need to alter it. ”If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Neil (@neilosjames)
12th October 2019, 14:27
I like the three-day weekend format, or four-day if we bring Thursday into it… as a fan, if I was attending I’d want the most days possible and that includes the support races most circuits lay on, which would struggle to fit in around a two-day on-track weekend.
But if they’re extending the calendar… for the sake of the general team employees, putting some two-day weekends in might be a decent call. An extra day off between races would probably make a reasonable difference to their lives and go some way to balancing out the 3-4 more weekends per year.
Maybe cut the weekends without F2/F3 down to two days, and make Friday into what Thursday is now, unless there’s a history of big local support races. I think that’s a trial that’s definitely worth doing.
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
12th October 2019, 15:02
A two day format may work if F1 was the only racing taking place. Try doing that with 3 or 4 support races and it will all go horribly wrong very quickly.
Ant
12th October 2019, 15:15
I’m sure Lewis is looking at this as an extra day off and perhaps not in the best interest of the sport or fans. Considering how much these drivers are paid for what they do, surely they should just accept the the current format. I doubt any of the drivers would be happy taking a pay cut for a reduced work week…
George (@feral)
12th October 2019, 16:43
I’m sure Hamilton is really on to something here. 33% reduction in race meeting which of course to be fair, will be a 33% reduction in hosting fees, TV subscriptions and team and driver earnings. Nice one Lewis I think you’ve cracked it.
elchinero (@elchinero)
12th October 2019, 18:59
Hmm … lotsa provincialistic thinking here.
Go to the track on Friday and Saturday then watch on TV? As go to Montmelo on Fri/Sat then watch the race on TV in Barcelona? Sounds like a well-thought-out trip.
And the event times: We had the RGP @ 0410 PDT (o’dark-ten), the USGP will be at 1410 CDT, (attending … don’t want to drive half-way across the continent to then camp in a hotel to watch the race … jeez …must be an Englishperson writing) and the JGP shows @ 2210 hours PDT. When we are in Savannah the races are on EDT (or EST). Only the Canadian, the US, and Mexico are on civilized hours. So deny the sniveling.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
12th October 2019, 19:00
I would be all up for that. Saturday Fp1, then quali race, then sunday fp2 aka warmup. The. Race. So mechanics have an extra day between races and teams cannot do a. Allnighter between first practice and quali. That is bound to make quali less predictable.
Rastaman11
12th October 2019, 20:10
It actually makes sense if you look at it and it will create great racing that is just my opinion, pressure on team and driver to get setup right on the Saturday and more pressure on the Sunday. Pressure for the driver to try and get pole for the team and later in the day pressure on team to get all decision right in the race and where they is pressure mistakes happen, people crack and this creates more entertainment for us all to see what team and drivers can handle this
PaulK (@paulk)
12th October 2019, 22:27
If we already a 2-day race weekend in place this weekend they would have to qualify Sunday morning with 0 practice time. That would be entertaining I guess.
Edvaldo
13th October 2019, 0:40
Yeah, people will be paying expensive tickets to see the cars on track for just a couple of hours.
And the drivers will drive even less than they already do without test sessions during the season.
Guess Hamilton enjoys more being the super star of the place than driving these days.
Yaru
13th October 2019, 8:02
He is just saying to compress it to less total days with less waiting in between, still the same number of driving time.
Frankly if I was him or any F1 driver I would want to do the same and have more days to be back home with my family/friends.
I don’t think it is a good idea because there is a lot of support series but purely for F1 alone it is a good idea. If you could be away from home three days as opposed to four in a career that last years, that is a lot of days back home for recharging with the same amount of driving productivity.