Changes to race weekends?

[Jared]

I'm sure all of you have heard this. It seems that all the data from testing done at World Championship circuits leaves teams to sit around on the Friday before a GP. So, the powers that be are thinking of re-working the scheduling of race weekends.

One proposal, backed by Max Mosley, is to eliminate Friday practice all together.

Another idea is to elimiate in-season testing at World Championship tracks and have two three-hour sessions on Friday. This is backed by Flavio Briatore.

Still another is to agregate the times from Friday and Saturday to set the grid for the race.

So, what do you think? Which idea do you prefer?

Personally, I like the second idea. Friday should be for practice, Saturday for qualifying and Sunday for the race.

[R]

Yes, I agree. I remember some pretty boring Saturday qualifying sessions when there was qualifying on both Friday and Saturday. One qualifying session is better than two. The drivers have one hour to do max. twelve laps, and that's it. No second chances. It's more exciting the way we have it now.

[Sparky]

I agree with the "..Friday should be for practice, Saturday for qualifying and Sunday for the race.." idea, but I'm not happy with the 12-lap rule. (Incidentally, was the 12-lap rule introduced originally for cost reasons? - Just wondered)

Four attempts at qualifying is OK, but only recently have we seen a top driver try for two hot laps out of desperation. Would unlimited runs within the hour really cause any major problems?

On the other hand, track congestion within the hour might be tricky - some drivers might never get a clear run.


Just my opinion of course...

[Liz]

CART is apparently ditching the two-day qualifying for next season. I suppose there is no reason for it unless the pilots crash and are unable to set a time on the Saturday, or it rains or snows on the Saturday and no times can be set ... or, as happened last year in Laguna Seca, a pilot is killed and qualifying is cancelled on the following day.

The one-hour qualifying is good television, ($$$$$$$$$$$) and will not be scrapped.

But if Friday becomes "optional" for the teams, I envision the race weekend being cut to two days and the fans charged the same or higher prices for 2/3 the spectacle. And I also envision most of you guys paying.

So do Max'n'Bernie. Let the $$$$$$$$$$$ begin!