F1 will take ‘interesting learnings' from two-day Imola format

Formula 1 will take “interesting learnings” from the unique two-day format at Imola as it considers future changes to the traditional weekend schedule, says the sport’s managing director of motorsports, Ross Brawn.

The championship debuted its first-ever official two-day race event at last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with no Friday practice taking place during a condensed schedule of running.

Instead, a single 90-minute practice session took place on Saturday morning, in the slot of the usual hour-long final practice, before qualifying later in the day and the race on Sunday.

The format tweak was well received by drivers and teams alike as F1 ponders shaking up the grand prix weekend schedule in the future. It is understood that some events next year could become two-day weekends with F1 planning for a longest-ever season consisting of 23 races.

“The two-day format of the weekend worked well too and we’ll take some interesting learnings from it moving forwards,” Brawn said in his post-race column for the official Formula 1 website. “It adds another string to our bow for the future.”

Imola is among a number of new and returning tracks that have been added to the revised 2020 calendar to act as replacements for the originally-planned races which were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Brawn stressed that following the success of these venues, F1 will use the layouts as inspiration in the design and planning process of future tracks.

“The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a terrific race at a very historic venue which brought back a lot of personal memories,” Brawn added. “Congratulations to the promoters for putting on such a well-organised event in a very short space of time.

“We’ve been to a few classic but new-for-2020 tracks this year and they’ve all demonstrated how the layout of the track can inspire great racing. And that’s why we want to be involved in the design and planning of any new tracks that come along, using the lessons learnt, as we believe any new track should be an opportunity to create something special.

“With the organisation Formula 1 and the FIA have built now, I believe we can deliver that. It also applies to the type of cars we have. We are constantly working hard on making sure the cars of the future can deliver great racing.”