As announced last year by many insiders, a measure introduced as ‘extraordinary’ has become in fact ordinary. There is talk of the duration of the free practice sessions on Friday of the Formula 1 weekends, which in 2021 were reduced from 90 to 60 minutes for reasons that seemed related to the particular conditions of the last world championship.
Twelve months ago it was decided to limit the time available to run on the track with the aim of helping to contain costs, a measure with few contraindications since seventy percent of the single-seater components were the same as in 2020, therefore with reduced needs. development and a part of already acquired know-how.
It seemed like a one-off scenario and, instead, it has also been confirmed for 2022 and will most likely be the new future standard.
The decision (not yet officially confirmed) was taken to favor the new program for Friday, which Liberty Media strongly wants to concentrate in the afternoon time slot, reserving the morning for the activities carried out last year on Thursday.
The new standard program foresees the FP1 session from 13:00 to 14:00, and the FP2 from 17:00 to 18:00, and where there will be visibility problems, everything will be brought forward by an hour. Track activity on Friday morning will be reserved for the support categories, which will alternate between Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula W and Porsche Supercup.
Liberty Media’s goal is also to be able to target a greater number of television viewers on Friday, favored by the possibility of being able to be released from work commitments near the start of the FP2 session.
However, all this involves yet another reduction in the ‘track-time’, that is the time available to teams and drivers to fine-tune the single-seaters and test new technical components, as well as time also taken away from the spectators who go to the circuit to observe the Formula 1 up close.
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