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F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: John S on May 09, 2019, 12:40:56 PM

Title: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: John S on May 09, 2019, 12:40:56 PM
There are arguments for and against, but what do we all think?

No doubt you will all have your own view but to start off let's review some Pros & Cons:-

Pros:

More time for more races - with an expanding calendar teams will spend less time at each track, allowing more races each year.

Just a waste of time - with the tech and data teams hold on each track they don't need to run on Fridays.

More exciting races - Friday sessions just allow top teams to keep their advantage, less prep time more likely to throw curved ball in their way.

Cons:

Better for fans at trackside - so few of us get to see F1 cars actually on track, 3 days of running offers something back for all the money and effort of physically being at a GP.

Development opportunity for teams - with testing so restricted Fridays have become the real test bed for many teams.

Rookie try outs - again another victim of restricted testing, young drivers can sample real time GP experience...…..Oh and teams get to earn extra cash. ;)

I really can't make up my mind on this one, be good to hear others views.   
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: cosworth151 on May 09, 2019, 02:52:59 PM
Add to the Pros:

More money for the venues & the host cities.

More races (Porsche Cup, F2/F3/Indy Lights, etc) for the fans.

They used to let the teams run a third car on Fridays for their test drivers. I'd like to see that come back.

I say keep it!
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: rmassart on May 09, 2019, 06:08:06 PM
Personally I tend to be against these sort of changes. However, I think in this case I might be in favour of ditching Friday practice if it enables more races. I know more races risk diluting the value of any specific race, but at the end of day most of the fans don't really care about Friday practice, but they do care about the race.

Friday kind of lost it's value when they ditched Friday qualifying. Probably it's time to ditch Friday completely.

My main worry about ditching Friday, is that it risks leading to Saturday being ditched as well. Practice Sunday 9-11am. Qualifying 12-13. Race 15-17 is a perfectly manageable schedule....
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: lkjohnson1950 on May 09, 2019, 07:01:43 PM
Venues are already struggling to make ends meet. Friday means millions to many circuits.
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: Alianora La Canta on May 09, 2019, 10:23:08 PM
I would prefer one Friday practise to be kept, and the other event to be replaced by F1 drivers competing in something other than their race cars (preferably something not requiring much contribution from the rest of the team). Spec saloon cars, perhaps, or Superkarts. Maybe it could be something different each race (the odd race where they compete in ice cream vans would be a laugh!) Preferably this would be at the lowest stakes possible - podium ceremony and maybe a few more prizes for memorable stuff (like "fastest lap", "best overtake" and "silliest radio message"). Those categories don't need to be the same for every race either.

Two practise sessions mean that if one is a write-off, the teams still get some practise in, without everything being all set and stable like it often is when all three sessions occur.

I am against removing Friday, because I think there are already too many races on the calendar without trying to shoehorn more. Liberty is unlikely to grant a discount to tracks for removing that day of running either, certainly not enough to counter the money made from people attending the track.

Rookie try-outs are primarily a victim of the rule permitting only two chassis to be homologated at a time, combined with the increasing advantage of having one's race drivers do all available running. I would prefer rookie testing to be allowed after races than during the race weekend, but would be open to more mid-week testing with non-regular drivers.
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: Scott on May 09, 2019, 10:52:36 PM
If you’re a local fan, maybe Friday is meaningless, but if you fly in, Thursday and Friday activity means another couple of nights booked in the hotel, more food and beverage, and being entertained for a full 4 days, which makes the entire exercise worth the trouble and expense (for the fan), while bringing more money to the local economy.  I think there are far too few activities track side and would like to see some ideas like Ali suggested and more.  Let every race enthusiast within 500km come and run their best on the F1 track, bring in bikes, do a charity run and a bicycle race, just keep the track humming all weekend long. 
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: lkjohnson1950 on May 10, 2019, 01:27:56 AM
The first F1 race in Long Beach I went to they had carts, Formula Atlantic and 250CC AMA motorcycles. very interesting. Don't they run F2, F3, and Porsche Cup at almost all F1 races?
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: Andy B on May 10, 2019, 03:14:13 AM
F1 drivers racing something else?
Jim Clark was doing just that at the time of his death so I doubt team principles will go along with that.
Friday is important for the fans and the circuits if they want to change it make it an official test day or at least one of the sessions.
For me if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: Alianora La Canta on May 10, 2019, 06:11:16 AM
The first F1 race in Long Beach I went to they had carts, Formula Atlantic and 250CC AMA motorcycles. very interesting. Don't they run F2, F3, and Porsche Cup at almost all F1 races?

That is the standard European "menu", though it varies when F1 is elsewhere, from the "nothing" that is theoretically possible (though I'm not sure any track actually has no support races) to Australia's typical 6-8 series spread across 4 days (they even had Australian GT - as distinct from the V8s which may also have turned up - this year)). Australia's definitely the one to go for if you like loads of different series accomapanying your F1.
Title: Re: Should F1 Friday practice be binned?
Post by: cosworth151 on May 10, 2019, 02:56:53 PM
I agree with Scott. We'd go to the U.S.G.P. at Indy on Wednesday afternoon. The Pit Walkabout, with autograph sessions and many other activities, was Thursday morning. Indy Raceway Park ran races in the evenings. The Indy Jazz Fest was going on. The town was alive for all four days. I'm sure the extra day brought a ton of money into town. We'd usually leave on Monday.
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