“If no one drives on Friday, then people have no reason to come”- Sebastian Vettel opines against the removal of driving on Friday.
Formula 1 reportedly considering to remove the Friday sessions from the Grand Prix weekend schedule, but Sebastian Vettel has voiced against this suggestion.
Although teams will experience the first exclusive Saturday-Sunday Grand Prix schedule during Email Romagna GP that will follow this week’s Portuguese GP.
“If no one drives on Friday, then people have no reason to come to the track on Friday,” commented the Ferrari driver, quoted by Motorsport-Total. “And there is less program on the weekend,”
“So I’m not sure what the plan for the future looks like. I’d rather cancel Thursday than Friday.” he further said.
Shortening the weekend will take away the challenge.
Vettel further emphasized that taking away two free practice sessions on Friday will take away the crucial challenge the teams and drivers have after the initial runs on the track.
“What it changes is working with the engineers,” he said. “You don’t get the chance to really work on the car and the set-up. That way, the focus is more on the work you do before the event starts.
“This engineering power is then taken away,” he concluded. Whereas, current world champion Lewis Hamilton also concurred with his long time rival.
“Yeah, that just makes it a lot tougher for us,” Hamilton admitted. “Usually, you have two sessions on Friday, and you have time to make a bunch of set-up changes.
“You also have time on the track to catch up if you are a little behind. You have to analyze so much, watch videos and all that.
“But if you start on Saturday, you don’t have time for it. You have this one session to get it under control and adjust the set-up between practice and qualifying.”
Though, Hamilton has also stated that environmentally not running the cars on Friday will be a positive move, “That is 22 days less, in which 20 cars drive around the track and pollute the air and the planet,” he said.
