Return of the 90-minute free practice sessions on Fridays
Next season is marked by a very busy schedule with a record number of 23 races. But what also changes for this new season is the Friday schedule during a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The arrival of new regulations this year will shake up Formula 1. When we add to that a calendar of 23 races and the more regular introduction of sprints, the sport is undergoing a profound change. But that’s not all, the Friday session will completely change in 2022.
The traditional Thursday Media Day is being eliminated, but F1 is adding a new press conference on Friday, for the teams. The idea is to have technicians from each team present to the press and FIA the changes made to their cars since the last Grand Prix.
But in addition to this new conference, F1 returns to 1 hour and 30 minutes of free practice sessions for those on Friday, according to our colleagues at racingnews365.com. Thus, it is the Free Practice 1 and 2 that are affected, while the one on Saturday remains at a duration of one hour. A change that aims to help teams better understand their cars given the new regulations implemented by the FIA.
A testing and adaptation period has been extended to compensate for the almost non-existent data compared to previous years, especially since the cars adapted to the new regulations will also have new 18-inch tires.
However, according to De Telegraaf, Formula 1 has discussed with the teams and agreed to shorten Friday’s free practice sessions to only 1 hour. A matter to follow…
