New schedule changes for the Grand Prix
Attention, changes are coming in the weekend schedule, whether for free practice sessions or the race start time!
After last season’s experiments, Formula 1 has officially announced a series of changes. We’re not yet at the point of a two-day weekend revolution, but the first steps have been taken.
The first is that it has been decided to shorten the two initial free practice sessions on Friday by 30 minutes, reducing them to one hour. The objective is to allow more track time for other categories to take the track. The second objective is to give the teams less preparation time. However, we could see last year when this was experienced (at the Nürburgring due to fog) or experimented (Imola) that it had little impact, as teams arrive well-prepared thanks to their powerful simulators.
Another change, the return of starts on the hour. In 2018, Liberty Media decided to delay the start by ten minutes to allow television channels that begin broadcasting at a fixed time to have some airtime before the engines roar. Finally, after three seasons, it’s decided to partially go back as the starts will still take place at 3 PM and not 2 PM as was the case in the past.
On the other hand, Liberty Media did not take the opportunity to confirm the name of the third race of the season, which remains in “To be announced” status.
