Ricciardo suggests radical F1 race weekend overhaul

Daniel Ricciardo says a major shake-up in Formula 1’s race weekend formats by cutting down on practice sessions and introducing a second race would mean ‘less laps of nonsense’.

During the German Grand Prix the Australian driver was quizzed on the rumoured format changes which F1 bosses Liberty Media is considering as part of its 2021 overhaul. A sprint-style race on Saturday has been suggested but seems unlikely having been hit by an initial backlash with F1 looking to make Sunday’s Grand Prix more of a spectacle.

With F1’s race calendar also expanding to 21 races this year talk has also focused on potentially growing the calendar which has also been met with a mixed reception.

The Red Bull driver feels regardless of F1 format changes there needs to be ‘more laps of meaningful business’ rather than practice sessions which have no impact on qualifying or racing. Currently, drivers have a total of four hours of free practice (split between three sessions) before qualifying at every Grand Prix.

“I’d prefer no practices and just Saturday, Sunday,” Ricciardo said. “Just qualify Saturday morning, race Saturday afternoon and race again Sunday. Less laps of nonsense and more laps of meaningful business.

“I want it to be serious, it is not the F1 everyone is used to, so you have to be careful with two races.

“But I like racing, I don’t like practice so much. So, if it just meant that we could race more through a year, and do less practice, then that sounds good to me.”

Ricciardo has also poured doubt on F1 cutting down the race calendar as he feels teams will fill spare weekends with other activities including sponsor and marketing commitments.

“It depends if those other weekends are holidays or marketing days. If it is marketing days then I prefer 23 races. If it is holidays then I prefer 16 races,” he said.

Earlier this week, F1’s commercial boss Sean Bratches confirmed a potential Miami race project has been postponed for 2019, while it continues to seek new races.

Provisionally, next year’s F1 race calendar is likely to slim down to 20 rounds, with the omission of the German Grand Prix, with the full calendar expected to be announced by the FIA in the coming weeks.