F1 teams support key Sprint race weekend tweak

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has supported a key regulation change for Sprint race weekends in Formula 1.

Charles Leclerc was thrown out of the US Grand Prix along with Lewis Hamilton for excessive skid block wear, brought on by the bumpy Circuit of the Americas.

Parc Ferme limits the amount of times teams can alter their setups between sessions, and if a team choses to make any changes they must start from the pit lane.

Both Ferrari and Mercedes made gamble after noticing the problem after the sole practice session on Friday by electing not to make any further setup changes.

The FIA noted this as being one of the main factors which led to the breach of technical rules, resulting in the disqualification of Hamilton and Leclerc.

Ferrari want to see relaxation of rules

With curfews limiting how long teams can work on cars, which they get two exemptions for in 2024, and a cost cap introduced in 2021, there is now the possibility to ease some of the rules surrounding Parc Ferme.

Vasseur would support a tweak to the ruleset for Sprint race weekends, largely due to the amount of time they have to work on the cars before being thrusted into qualifying.

"I can say that I'm very happy to block the Parc Ferme when were disqualified in Austin," he told media, including RacingNews365.

"The issue is that you have only FP1 to do the setup of the car, for the cooling, for ride height. Sometimes in the FP1 if you have a small issue or even if the drivers are not taking the line they will take later into the weekend, it's very difficult and you are blind.

"It's a good one to open Parc Ferme, but perhaps we can discuss about which parameter will be open. But at least for cooling and ride heights and so, it's the right decision to do it."

Aston Martin: F1 needs Sprint tweaks

Aston Martin Performance Director, Tom McCullough, feels there should be some flexibility for teams to adapt their cars in changing conditions.

"It's a matter of evolving the rules to achieve what we're all trying to achieve. We allow certain things to be changed. You can change brake material, you can do various bits and bobs," said McCullough.

"Obviously, we can't change the skids and the plank on the car, therefore you've got to make some decisions on very limited running very early.

"There are things like the weather effects that, a headwind to a tailwind and a big straight can influence that and forecasting that three days in advance is tough.

"So I think tweaks to the regulations are always welcome from an engineering side of things, but I don't think we should get rid of it."