The revised Formula 1 weekend schedule for the first sprint event opens the door for the teams to a “mess” with the setup at the British Grand Prix, says Ferrari.
This weekend’s GP at Silverstone will be the first in F1 history to feature a 100km sprint race on Saturday to determine the grid for the main event on Sunday.
But the arrival of the sprint race had a profound impact on the overall weekend schedule, with much less training time for the teams to improve their race attitudes. Now there is only one training session before a regular qualifying session on Friday evening to determine the starting grid for the sprint race.
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto believes that with the added complication of a new rear tire design, there is potential for many technical problems.
“We have a new tire specification at Silverstone that we tested in Austria, but most teams still need some experience with it,” he explained. “There will be very little time for that because it’s only Friday morning [practice session] before qualifying starts – with the new equipment it really goes straight to qualifying.
“It’s a new format, there is very little experience because it’s parc ferme from Friday afternoon, and that’s really exciting. It could be exciting.
“I think it can be a mess because the set-ups are not optimized due to a lack of experience with the tires, so I think it can be a great race weekend in that regard.”
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It was clear to F1 that one of the main reasons for the sprint race idea was to make the whole weekend more exciting for the fans and not just spice up the Saturday afternoon.
Ross Brawn, Motorsport Director of Formula 1, said: “It’s not just about the sprint. We now have qualifying on a Friday afternoon. And so we have a premiere event on Friday, we have another primary event on a Saturday and then “On Sunday we have the main event.
“It’s about creating more engagement for the whole weekend and having an event on a Saturday that is new and different.
“None of us know 100% how it will be accepted and received or how it will develop.”
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