Steiner warns about overly draconian (excessive) format changes
The boss of the Haas team, Günther Steiner, has warned Formula 1 against "too draconian" format changes to improve the show, as it has been suggested that Formula 1 could find ways to reward testing with championship points.
Formula 1 has been seeking to modify its format for a long time to enhance the spectacle throughout a Grand Prix weekend, primarily by reducing the three practice sessions of the standard Grand Prix format and instead introducing a stake starting from Friday.
It is this idea that led to the introduction of sprint races several times per season, and the FOM is studying other modifications to make Fridays even more exciting.
Although Steiner is one of the many supporters of introducing a dedicated sprint race qualifying session to replace Saturday’s practice sessions, he has warned against “too draconian” changes and does not believe that rewarding practice sessions with points or any other advantages is a good idea.
« According to me, it is either a competition or a training. We can’t say that the winner of the training is the one, because then it would have to be a race », Mr. Steiner stated. « If there’s something at the end, everyone will run to get it and we risk diluting the races. »
“Let’s change little by little”
« We must be careful not to try to be too draconian and change everything. Let’s change gradually, always make sure to try something, and if it doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to do something different, let’s not be stubborn and stuck on that. That’s always my idea. » explains the Haas team director.
This is how we came to organize sprint weekends, because at first, many people were against it. Today, I think everyone is quite satisfied. I believe that the usual race weekend format should remain the majority format for now.
George Russell, Mercedes driver and GPDA director, also spoke on the matter and stressed that with limited testing, teams should be able to test new elements on the car without worrying about any reward at the end.
“It’s somewhat the beauty of it, sometimes; you have this 60-minute session, you can try new things, grow, improve even more. Whereas if you go straight into a session that’s worth points or rewarded, you’re less likely to try new things,” the British person said.
