Haas boss Steiner hints at F1 weekend schedule changes

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has provided a glimpse of how Formula 1 weekends could be condensed in future amid an expanding calendar.

F1 has been considering how best to make alterations to the current weekend schedule to improve the show, lower costs and help reduce the strain on personnel working in the sport, with Ross Brawn recently revealing plans to revise Friday’s format.

Speaking in a team preview ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, Steiner suggested that the changes could result in Thursday’s media day being scrapped altogether, with practice shuffled back to Friday afternoon to accommodate media and PR activities in the morning.

“There are talks to condense a Friday of a Grand Prix weekend,” Steiner said.

“The talk is to just do running on a Friday afternoon, with all the other PR activities taking place in the morning.

“I think that would be a good way forward, especially with an extended calendar.”

The Japanese Grand Prix weekend was disrupted by Typhoon Hagibis, with Saturday’s on-track action cancelled and qualifying postponed until Sunday morning, resulting in an action-packed race day at Suzuka.

Reflecting on Sunday’s rejigged schedule in Japan, Steiner said: “I think to do it like this, it made for a very busy Sunday.

“The day flew past very quickly, you’re all very busy and everything needs to be done a lot quicker.

“I don’t think it had an effect on team personnel, they just had to adapt, and our guys adapted pretty well.

“I would just say it was too much for one day - having both qualifying and the race on one day, but in those circumstances, it was the right decision. Everybody coped and I think it was an interesting race.”

Romain Grosjean added: “I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. Having qualifying and the race on the same day – yes it was a busy Sunday, but it was pretty cool.

“For me, it was quite a good Sunday. I enjoyed the schedule. I thought it was cool. For the crew, though, it was hard work having to jump from qualifying debrief straight into the race.”