In the round-up: Shortening the Formula 1 race weekend would make it easier to cope with the strains of a longer calendar, says Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.
What they say
As RaceFans reported earlier this week, changes to the race weekend format are under consideration for the 2020 F1 season. During last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix weekend Steiner spoke in favour of starting the weekend preparations later.
Over 23 [races] I think it gets difficult. But what I would look into it is maybe shorten the weekend, instead of coming here on Thursday… coming in on Friday.
Just do one long session on Friday afternoon. I understand that the promoter want to have cars on track on Friday but we could do that all on the Friday afternoon. I would more go with something like this than to reduce the races.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Ricciardo has no regrets from Red Bull years (Racer)
"For sure I look at last year and 2015, there’s been some frustrating years for sure, but I’m always happy with the way I approach it. I don’t look back and say, ‘Ah, if I would have worked harder then I wouldn’t be in this position and I would have made things better for myself.’"
Gasly: Red Bull shot payback for snub after GP2 (Autosport)
"I look at Seb. Seb did the same thing as me, one and a half year in Toro Rosso, jumped to Red Bull, had a successful time straightaway. Max did the same, had a successful time straightaway."
Penske becomes first true IndyCar competitor enshrined in NASCAR hall of fame (IndyCar)
"The man synonymous with Indy car success was honored Friday night for his accomplishments in another form of auto racing, when Penske was formally inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame."
Bruno Senna on Interlagos: Passion and culture (WEC)
"In Brazil, F1 is massively popular but the WEC showed that there is a thirst for this kind of racing and a passion for these cars because they are so spectacular. It is important to keep building the culture and an awareness for endurance racing, and the WEC is the best in the world at doing this."
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Comment of the day
It sn’t changes to the technical rules which will make racing closer, reckons Kenny:
There is only one thing that will create closer racing in F1: Budget caps.
Unless and until FOM has the stones to implement and enforce strict budget caps, the deep pockets of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull will always be squeeze out the extra bits of performance and the other teams will be fighting for the leftovers. The regulations ensure that they days when a genius on a mid field team could come up with startling innovation and vault to the front are gone. Even if that were to happen, the big teams would immediately throw tens of millions at it, copy it, improve it and leave the them behind.
I don’t know if everyone quite realises the enormous resources that a team like Mercedes our into even the tiniest details of their effort. As long as that continues, F1 will stay pretty much as we see it now.
Kenny Schachat (@Partofthepuzzle)
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RogerAyles
3rd February 2019, 1:06
I still feel that a budget cap is not only unenforceable, Totally against the spirit of F1 & would also do more harm than good overall.
I mean what happens if a team makes a mistake with there car design, Knows how to fix it but thanks to the budget cap aren’t able to spend the resources on fixing there issues. How is that beneficial to anyone?
A budget cap along with some of these other rules to try & create ‘equalisation’ are doing nothing but turning F1 into Indycar+. F1 is supposed to be technical, It’s supposed to be complex, It’s supposed to be expensive & it’s supposed to be the pinnacle of the sport. It’s not supposed to be a series where most of the grid can win races, it’s not supposed to be close and it isn’t supposed to be full of overtaking.
it’s supposed to be about performance, that is all that should matter & if people don’t find that exciting then go watch something else and leave F1 to those who actually get what F1 is!
F1 is supposed to be a sport & not an artificial, gimmick ridden show!
socksolid (@socksolid)
3rd February 2019, 17:47
Just because you have identified a problem with the car does not mean you can just fix it because there is no budget gap. 7 out of 10 teams already run under their own budget gaps. If they have a problem with the car their season is more difficult. Only 3 teams can really solve those big money problems you are talking about. And only 2 have control over the car and engine. No wonder it is those two winning everything. Budget gap is not a perfect solution but it is miles better than this current two tier championship..
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
5th February 2019, 13:32
Agree 100%. Budget cap is totally unenforceable. The COTD is way wide of the mark and shows a lack of understanding of the lengths a team will go to to win. With a cap there are too many grey areas and we all know how teams like to take advantage of those!
Technology and engineering caps are the only way. Those are measurable.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
3rd February 2019, 3:41
To be fair, 2009 did throw up a lot of surprises, as the top teams from the season before became the midfield, and the midfield became a lot of the frontrunners. It would similar to McLaren, Renault and Toro Rosso becoming the leading teams in F1 in 2019, while Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull scrap for minor points finishes. Unfortunately, this is probably a one-off, and I doubt we would ever see another shake-up of the grid quite like that, unless there is some incredible loophole in a future regulation change that is missed by the big boys.
Alain Belanger
3rd February 2019, 4:47
More it’s not mean better why to go to 25 Race the Travel that’s not to green you will need 2 teams off mécanos too much to be viable Green also you run Diesels motor you should worry about those I know it no Church business you not thinking straight that why it’s less money into the pots for constructors today you have to think Ratonnaly no jokes no one wants to hausse the Olympic Why you rating is so low Why Liberty’s wants out the planet is Bankrupt be rationalized
BlackJackFan
3rd February 2019, 10:18
? ? ?
erikje
3rd February 2019, 13:07
Yes… Google translate perhaps?
BlackJackFan
3rd February 2019, 15:15
The sad thing is that people who might have something worthwhile to contribute will have no idea they’re failing to communicate…
freefall
3rd February 2019, 12:44
I can’t argue with that
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd February 2019, 7:41
I disagree with Steiner. Shorter race weekends would lead to less track action for the attendances, and also it’d perhaps make travelling to the very distant venues such as Melbourne’s Albert Park less worth it as Christian Horner has pointed out.
Re Autosport-article: Some people thought/think that Gasly was promoted too early, but they tend to overlook that Seb and Max were promoted more or less equally quickly from STR to RBR. Yes, Kvyat might’ve failed after an early promotion, but the other two didn’t so that it can go either way.
Re COTD: Potentially more teams fighting at the front than what has been the case in the recent past, that’s what a budget cap could necessarily achieve, but it wouldn’t impact on the ability to follow closely, though. That’s a different matter, and the responsibility of the technical regs to fix.
georgeboole (@)
3rd February 2019, 8:08
Yes Steiner. Make everyone arrive on the venue on Friday morning.
I m sure jet lag is not affecting anyone. Drivers can jump in the car straightaway.
John H (@john-h)
3rd February 2019, 8:42
I know it’s de rigueur to take everything Steiner says with a pinch of salt, but not having FP1 makes a lot of sense to me. I wouldn’t say it’s a licence to have 23 races though.
aezy_doc
3rd February 2019, 9:17
I would still have FP1 but only allow teams outside the top 3 at that point in the season to run – or extend the session so that all teams can run for the first hour and then only the lower teams for an hour. Similarly I’d allow an extra day per pre season test for teams that finished lower than 3rd the season before. That should help to converge performance. It wouldn’t alleviate the overtaking issues though!
ColdFly (@)
3rd February 2019, 10:26
If ‘What They Say’ rehashed old quotes, then it might be time to merge it with ‘On This Day In F1’ :P
PeterG
3rd February 2019, 15:43
i still do not think a budget cap is enforceable but also i also fear there will be unintended consequences that will do more harm than good. i also just feel that it isn’t what f1 should be.
in terms of unintended consequences what happens if a team makes a big error with there car design and ends up not been able to develop it at the rate they need to in-order to become competitive thanks to the budget cap. thinking of a mclaren 2009 type situation, would they have been able to recover if a budget cap was in place?
similarly what if we have a good championship fight but towards the end of the year one team hits the cap and the other is able to carry on development? that could have a negative effect on the title fight with one team having a hand behind there back.
i also do not feel it’s what f1 should be doing as it essentially starts turning it into indycar+. a budget series mascaraing as f1.
this isn’t supposed to be equal, it’s not supposed to have half the field in contention… it’s supposed to be a technically advanced, expensive series that is the pinnacle of the sport. that is what it is always been and should always be, if you want equality then go watch indycar or something.
Rhys Lloyd (@justrhysism)
4th February 2019, 1:54
@PeterG
This only applies to the teams with a budgets big enough for such a thing. The rest of the teams don’t have such budgets anyway, so if anything, I see this as a good thing which could shake up the field (if only for a single season).
Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
3rd February 2019, 19:54
Impressive from Lewis. But you need a license for sky diving? A ploy from the FIA to keep young skydivers out of F1?
In my day, just needed a pilot buddy, a Piper Cub from the air club, above-average silk-folding skills, fear of heights and a death wish.
MacLeod (@macleod)
4th February 2019, 8:29
That how i lost my fear of heights, license for falling out of a flying object is new to me.
1 minute of terror when pushed out of the plane the rush of the air around your head so loud and the relief that your parachute opens. Then the silent and in my opinon the best part of parachutejumping flying with your chute opened looking around is a great feeling.
Dex
4th February 2019, 9:43
I wonder what Toto thinks about Lewis’s latest hobby (Skydiving).
grat
4th February 2019, 14:09
As long as Lewis keeps up his 50% win rate, I doubt Toto cares much.