Page 1 of 1

2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase race d

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:21 pm
by wire2004
So the question again for a reduced weekend of saturday and sunday has been discussed for formula 1 with fredric vasseur saying on pf1i.com that this would be a good exercise for the future.

It's got me thinking.
How would a weekend of a gp possibly go if formula 1 went to 2 days.
My suggestion would be the following (including F2 and F3)


Friday.
10:00 - 10:30. F3 Free Practice
11:00 - 11:30. F2 Free Practice.
12:00 - 13:00. F1. Meet and greet. (Some kind of fan interaction)
13:30 - 14:15. F3 Qualifiying.
14:45 - 15:30. F2 Qualifiying.
16:00 - 17:00. F3 RACE 1. (Sprint Race.) 25% of a f1 race distance.

Saturday.
09:00 - 10:30 F1 Free Practice 1.
11:00 - 12:30. F3 RACE 2. (Feature Race.) 50% of a f1 race distance.
13:30 - 15:00. F1 Free Practice 2.
15:30 - 17:00. F2 RACE 1. (Sprint Race.) 33% of a f1 race distance.

Sunday.
10:00 - 11:00. F1 Qualifiying.
12:00 - 13:30. F2 Race 2. (Feature Race.) 66% of a f1 race distance.
14:00. F1 Pre Race ceremony.
15:15 - 19:15. F1 Race. 125% of a current race distance. So a 60 lap race would become 75 lap race.

On 1 off tangent note. Do away with the 2 hour time limit. We have 4 hour timer from when the race starts to get the race completed. We dont need a 2 hour race limit anymore.
Imagine 53 laps is the current race distance on Sunday for japan. I'm sure you wont be complaining if it was 66 laps. And we were served action from start to finish. Plus it does away with the "boring" 1 stop races and opens up strategy.

Thoughts on both.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:54 pm
by Exediron
I'm not hugely in favor of the two-day format, but I do like your idea of lengthening the races. I feel some of them are getting far too short for a 'Grand Prix' as it is lately (Austria, Monza for example).

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:37 pm
by Remmirath
This would only work for the races which have F2 and F3, although I suppose for the races which are not supported by those two series other series could be swapped in their place. Personally, I don't see the need to shorten the weekend; I enjoy having the practices on Friday to get into the weekend when watching at home, and it's nice having an extra day when attending a race in person as well. If the support series were F2 and F3, or something roughly equivalent, I could see Friday remaining a good addition to the weekend - but I have my doubts that many people would be showing up on a Friday for the variety of other series that are on some tickets.

I do agree with lengthening the allotted race time, however.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:00 pm
by wire2004
Maybe another idea to beef up the weekend a bit with no support races. Or if you moved my fridsy proposed day to thursday and Saturday to Friday is that you could maybe give the f1 teams a off day after practice on friday and fill in the saturday with a corresponding national series if possible. So Australia would have the aussie touring cars. Monaco. Link it with the formula e race. Britain. Have a btcc round. Germany. I dont know as havent they dispanded the dtm series now. Japan. Super formula that button competed in a couple years ago. America. Bring the IndyCar to Cota for a expedition race. We have porche supercup as well that can fill a few rounds when f3 are not competing when f2 are. Canada. Maybe bring in the nascar for a expedition race. Maybe move the all stat race from Charlotte and take them to Montreal for a saturday expedition race. (They have run Xfinity there)

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Fri Oct 11, 2019 11:08 pm
by Schumacher forever#1
Exediron wrote:I'm not hugely in favor of the two-day format, but I do like your idea of lengthening the races. I feel some of them are getting far too short for a 'Grand Prix' as it is lately (Austria, Monza for example).
I'm with you there. F1 cars are getting faster each year and the race length should account for this. Longer races lead to more strategy options as well.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:08 am
by Tufty
wire2004 wrote:Maybe another idea to beef up the weekend a bit with no support races. Or if you moved my fridsy proposed day to thursday and Saturday to Friday is that you could maybe give the f1 teams a off day after practice on friday and fill in the saturday with a corresponding national series if possible. So Australia would have the aussie touring cars. Monaco. Link it with the formula e race. Britain. Have a btcc round. Germany. I dont know as havent they dispanded the dtm series now. Japan. Super formula that button competed in a couple years ago. America. Bring the IndyCar to Cota for a expedition race. We have porche supercup as well that can fill a few rounds when f3 are not competing when f2 are. Canada. Maybe bring in the nascar for a expedition race. Maybe move the all stat race from Charlotte and take them to Montreal for a saturday expedition race. (They have run Xfinity there)
Monaco - FE uses a different track to F1.
Britain - BTCC comes with its own full weekend, it couldn't be a support race.
Porsche Supercup already races at tracks where we have both F2 and F3, so it won't fill extra time.
Would NASCAR really want to be a support race for F1? Likewise Indycar for that matter.

I kind of like where you're going with this but the support series need more thought.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:21 pm
by pokerman
In F2 and F3 I'm not sure how practical it is to have the sprint race first, sometimes race penalties can affect the following race and could compromise the main race which scores more points.

With F1 would the Saturday audience be compromised by having the F1 cars only practicing and not competing?

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 12:23 pm
by Fiki
Increasing the duration/length of a race risks a decrease in fan numbers. Even now some get bored when there aren't any VSC/SC periods that falsify the racing.
And adding another hour to duration would mean going back to refuelling, which increases the cost for teams, and requires transportation around the world. I've never been a fan of refuelling - at least not when everybody has to do it - nor of mandatory tyre stops - especially in a single supplier format - but both would be necessary if a race were to last 3 hours, for example.
Increased costs, potentially reduced fan numbers, and a heavier footprint on the environment... I don't think it stands a good chance of happening.

Edit: I forgot about a 2-day race weekend. For years I was certain to work at least one of the two weekend days, so getting close to the cars on Friday was a great opportunity. And not everybody has the budget to enjoy a full race weekend anyway.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:16 pm
by Schumacher forever#1
Fiki wrote:Increasing the duration/length of a race risks a decrease in fan numbers. Even now some get bored when there aren't any VSC/SC periods that falsify the racing.
And adding another hour to duration would mean going back to refuelling, which increases the cost for teams, and requires transportation around the world. I've never been a fan of refuelling - at least not when everybody has to do it - nor of mandatory tyre stops - especially in a single supplier format - but both would be necessary if a race were to last 3 hours, for example.
Increased costs, potentially reduced fan numbers, and a heavier footprint on the environment... I don't think it stands a good chance of happening.

Edit: I forgot about a 2-day race weekend. For years I was certain to work at least one of the two weekend days, so getting close to the cars on Friday was a great opportunity. And not everybody has the budget to enjoy a full race weekend anyway.
I was more considering adding an extra 15 minutes (or whatever) to races that are high speed. Races that finish within 80 minutes go by too quickly and don't allow for much strategy.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 1:32 pm
by Johnson
In this format, I would like to see Friday used for young/test drivers and maybe have qualifying still not he Saturday.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 2:27 pm
by wire2004
Tufty wrote:
wire2004 wrote:Maybe another idea to beef up the weekend a bit with no support races. Or if you moved my fridsy proposed day to thursday and Saturday to Friday is that you could maybe give the f1 teams a off day after practice on friday and fill in the saturday with a corresponding national series if possible. So Australia would have the aussie touring cars. Monaco. Link it with the formula e race. Britain. Have a btcc round. Germany. I dont know as havent they dispanded the dtm series now. Japan. Super formula that button competed in a couple years ago. America. Bring the IndyCar to Cota for a expedition race. We have porche supercup as well that can fill a few rounds when f3 are not competing when f2 are. Canada. Maybe bring in the nascar for a expedition race. Maybe move the all stat race from Charlotte and take them to Montreal for a saturday expedition race. (They have run Xfinity there)
Monaco - FE uses a different track to F1.
Britain - BTCC comes with its own full weekend, it couldn't be a support race.
Porsche Supercup already races at tracks where we have both F2 and F3, so it won't fill extra time.
Would NASCAR really want to be a support race for F1? Likewise Indycar for that matter.

I kind of like where you're going with this but the support series need more thought.

I get where your coming from. I was spit balling potential arrangements that could be made for support races.

I have a couple reasons why I chose the following series that could be support races.

I know formula e uses a different layout. But 2 possibilities. Formula e races run 40 min races now. They could in my view use the f1 circuit. Plus where the formula e track goes off and meets back up with the f1 circuit. I dont even think you will need to make any modifications to the circuit layouts. Formula e goes down a different street from san devote. Coming back out at the chicane. Where it's a hairpin in formula e I dont think the circuit changes would compromise either series If they use both circuits over the weekend.

Btcc. Yes they have their own programme and support races that they run. But they used too run as a support race as late as 97 I believe at Silverstone. So it's happened before

Nascar and Indy. This was a big fantasy and spitball. But They are both looking into the possibility of hosting a double header. Whether indycar has it's own all star race as a support too nascar at the charlotte roval in october. The fact is nascar and indycar maybe the premier series in america. But compared to formula 1. I feel that nascar especially can do with the help. Especially with the struggles they are having at the moment with attendances.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2019 8:28 pm
by Fiki
Schumacher forever#1 wrote:
Fiki wrote:Increasing the duration/length of a race risks a decrease in fan numbers. Even now some get bored when there aren't any VSC/SC periods that falsify the racing.
And adding another hour to duration would mean going back to refuelling, which increases the cost for teams, and requires transportation around the world. I've never been a fan of refuelling - at least not when everybody has to do it - nor of mandatory tyre stops - especially in a single supplier format - but both would be necessary if a race were to last 3 hours, for example.
Increased costs, potentially reduced fan numbers, and a heavier footprint on the environment... I don't think it stands a good chance of happening.

Edit: I forgot about a 2-day race weekend. For years I was certain to work at least one of the two weekend days, so getting close to the cars on Friday was a great opportunity. And not everybody has the budget to enjoy a full race weekend anyway.
I was more considering adding an extra 15 minutes (or whatever) to races that are high speed. Races that finish within 80 minutes go by too quickly and don't allow for much strategy.
I would agree to that straightaway. Except for the strategy. I've never felt that the team should still be involved the moment the lights go out, bar repairs and holding up boards showing the gaps. Drivers should be able to work out how to run their race without autocue.

And yet there's one thing I would not like if the races were all 2 hours or longer - though that's fine in principle; with the races now all arranged to run as closely as possible to European daytime schedules, that would ruin a number of Sunday afternoons even more. Not a nice prospect with even more weekends to be added to the schedule.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Wed Oct 16, 2019 11:25 am
by Sutton
I reckon its been way too long since the format was changed for a F1 weekend.
For a start there is no need for 3 Practice sessions.

Re: 2 day weekend. And a little bit of a rant to increase ra

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:24 pm
by Vettel Fan
I certainly don't want longer races at boring tracks like Paul Ricard.