Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are leading calls for a Formula 1 weekend format change, following the comments made by CEO Stefano Domenicali on the future of practice sessions. Discussions are currently taking place about how practice sessions can be made to be more engaging, with the potential for rewards or points being on the table. Hamilton believes F1 should be more 'dynamic' with race weekends and look at specific solutions for certain races such as Monaco, which can often not live up to their hype when it comes to race day. "I think we can be more dynamic and I think we can look at places like Monaco, perhaps there is a different kind of solution for that weekend to make it more engaging for fans," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . "We use the sprint races in some places and maybe there's something else we do. "I like the format on the sprint weekend where you have that one practice session, and there's a lot of pressure just to get that right and then just straight into qualifying. I've loved and enjoyed that."
Russell: Later practice sessions could give personnel extra time at home
In recent years some Grand Prix weekends have seen practice sessions start at a later time, which enables personnel to fly out to the track on Thursday rather than Wednesday. Russell believes this could be the way forward to enable more team personnel to have extra time at home, as the calendar expands to more races. "I'd probably say, for the benefit of 3000 people travelling around the world, having the first session on Friday evening, so there's less of pressure for teams to arrive on Wednesday," said Russell. "If you have your first session on the Friday morning, you need to be here on a Thursday which for a lot of races requires flying on a Wednesday. "If we can push that back to allow teams to fly on a Thursday morning, you add that up over 24 races in a year, you're getting on for almost a month extra at home and sleeping in your own bed, which is huge for everyone in this circus. "So I'd say a sprint format, [along with] just making sure that first session is delayed a little bit."
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