George Russell believes the prospect of shortening some Formula 1 races to cater for younger viewers could be good for the sport.
Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1’s chief executive, told Autosport this week that the possibility of shortened grands prix, reverse-grid sprint races and fewer of the traditional three-practice session weekends were all being discussed.
“We’re seeing on many of our channels that highlights do very well,” Domenicali said, suggesting that races could be “too long for younger audiences”. He added: “For those of us who grew up with the current format, everything is fine as it is, but there’s a large segment that only wants to see the key moments.
“Things are going very well today, but precisely for that reason we must not rest on our laurels. We need to think about the next step.”
Domenicali says that the new audience want to see more action
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The length of grand prix races varies depending on the track, weather conditions and any yellow flags or safety cars which occur. Russell is open to the idea of making some shorter.
“I do feel some races, potentially, are maybe too long,” the 27-year-old Mercedes driver said. “If you look at a race in Monza, it is an hour and 15 [minutes], whereas a race in Singapore can be almost two hours. So that also makes a bit of sense [to shorten some]. I do trust in Stefano and the team, and I’m very much open to new ideas, and I always want to give it the benefit of that.
“I do feel we have to evolve, because the sport is changing, and I’m very open to new ideas. I feel that you always have to give it a chance before you dismiss anything.
“I was never a major fan of sprint races. Now I actually prefer them over usual grands prix. It makes every on-track activity much more meaningful, whereas some Fridays feel slightly redundant, with teams running high fuel, low fuel, high power, low power. It just feels like a bit too much unnecessary time on track.”
A traditional grand-prix race weekend involves three hour-long practice sessions, qualifying and a race
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A traditional grand prix race weekend involves three hour-long practice sessions, qualifying and a race. A sprint weekend includes only one practice session, before sprint qualifying, a 100km sprint race, and then qualifying and the main race.
“Our surveys show the vast majority of the audience wants the drivers to fight for a result,” Domenicali added. “To put it bluntly, they’re tired of free practice. That’s an objective fact we can’t ignore. I’m being a bit provocative, but free practice appeals to super-specialists; people who want to see more action prefer a sprint weekend.”
Not everyone is as open to the potential changes as Russell. Fernando Alonso said it is a “problem with society” that there are now shorter attention spans, adding that no one was calling for 60-minute football matches, while Kimi Antonelli believes it would only exacerbate the problem of one-stop strategies producing predictable racing.
This weekend’s Monza Grand Prix will be a traditional format, while there are three more sprint races (in Austin, Brazil and Qatar) before the conclusion of the season. Lewis Hamilton has a five-place grid penalty to serve in his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari having failed to slow “significantly” for yellow flags on his way to the grid in Zandvoort.
Hamilton felt the penalty was “pretty hardcore” for the infringement. “I did lift. Just to their mind not enough. To get the penalty and [licence] penalty points was pretty hardcore. Not great when you’re going into your first Monza GP for Ferrari, but it gives me more to fight for,” he said.
This will be Hamilton’s first Italian Grand Prix racing for Ferrari
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Last week the seven-times world champion pledged to enjoy the second half of the season more after a difficult start to his time at Ferrari, and admitted the pressure he has faced has made that harder than anticipated.
It is understood that while Hamilton was aware of the implications of his move to Ferrari, it has been even bigger than he expected, as he has experienced in many moments like the fans which greeted him outside of the Maranello factory this week — something which he has never witnessed at other teams in his career. He attended a sponsor event in Milan with Ferrari on Wednesday evening in front of around 7,000 fans.
“There is clearly so much love for this brand, and to be in Milan in the heart of it all and to see how passionate they all were, it was intense, and I really tried to harness all the positive energy they gave us.
“This year has been tough for everyone… there’s the culture difference, and Fréd [Vasseur, team principal] made a comment that they perhaps underestimated what it would mean for me joining the team, and the year we’ve been faced with, in terms of the problems with the car.”
Elsewhere, Williams have lodged an official right of review to the FIA over Carlos Sainz’s 10-second penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson last weekend. They believe they have new evidence which shows Sainz should not have been penalised.