The 2021 season alone will feature a record-breaking 23 Grand Prix events in the calendar. But the FIA wants to add more. And to do that one of the options is compressing the qualifying, practice and race over two days than Friday, Saturday and Sunday to save running time and costs incurred for more race weekends.
This idea had its litmus test in Imola last year when the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix took place over two days. It was a relative success and ignited a debate over whether the FIA should make it a permanent thing.
What did F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali say?
Lewis Hamilton threw his support behind the shortened race weekend idea. However, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is pouring cold water over this suggestion. He believes that a three-day event allows to maximize the revenue and ticket sales.
“All the organisers really wanted to have a full experience for the people and for the crowd, so we need to respect that,” said Stefano Domenicali.
The Mercedes ace, Lewis Hamilton thinks that a benefit of a two-day Grand Prix event is multi-fold. It helps in reducing the carbon foot print while also creating more uncertainty over the results
“There’s 22 days less of 20 cars bombing around the track and polluting the air, the planet, so that’s a positive.
“I think it just made it so much harder for us. Normally you have two sessions on the Friday, you get time to make tons of different set-up changes and, if you’re on the back foot, you’ve got time to catch up. When you start on a Saturday, you’ve got no time. You’ve got that one session to really get on top of it and the set-up between practice and qualifying. It made it so hard.”
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