Ok was thinking about how F1 doesn't have the old Sunday morning Warm-Up session it used to have and how its probably a shame for fans going to the track for only the Sunday and then came up with this idea. Lets see what you think.
On Sunday morning a few hours before the race they have an F1 sprint race for the test drivers - Just a quarter of the race distance but enough to give the fans a bit of excitment. No Qualifying just grid slots drawn at random. Teams don't have to enter but if they do they can only run 1 car with 1 driver, No points or championship just racing for pride. I think this would make for some exciting close racing and give the fans who bother to go to the track a little something extra.
It would have various benifits for the teams to run in - the main one being that they would be able to get some track data for the day of the race and some real information on how tyres/engines etc etc run at race speed on the day. Its also and extra test session for them so that if they have new parts they don't want to risk running in the actual race they can try them out and see if they work during proper competition.
Of course the main benifit is that it would create a shop window for young drivers trying to get into F1 as well as giving them experience and preperation for getting into the main race. If it wa running this year we'd had seen Ricciado vs Bianchi vs Hulkenberg vs Senna etc - would have been interesting. Also teams would have been able to compare their race skills directly with those they already have in thier team and if they do need to bring in a driver mid-season that driver is familiar with the car and doesn't have to start learning from scratch.
I understand the cost implications of it are probably the main set-back. As far as I'm aware most teams don't even bring a T-car with them to Grand Prixs anymore but I think the bigger teams would be able to afford it and even with a 6 or 7 car grid I still think it would be worthwhile.
What do you guys think? Should I be sending a memo to Bernie?
On Sunday morning a few hours before the race they have an F1 sprint race for the test drivers - Just a quarter of the race distance but enough to give the fans a bit of excitment. No Qualifying just grid slots drawn at random. Teams don't have to enter but if they do they can only run 1 car with 1 driver, No points or championship just racing for pride. I think this would make for some exciting close racing and give the fans who bother to go to the track a little something extra.
It would have various benifits for the teams to run in - the main one being that they would be able to get some track data for the day of the race and some real information on how tyres/engines etc etc run at race speed on the day. Its also and extra test session for them so that if they have new parts they don't want to risk running in the actual race they can try them out and see if they work during proper competition.
Of course the main benifit is that it would create a shop window for young drivers trying to get into F1 as well as giving them experience and preperation for getting into the main race. If it wa running this year we'd had seen Ricciado vs Bianchi vs Hulkenberg vs Senna etc - would have been interesting. Also teams would have been able to compare their race skills directly with those they already have in thier team and if they do need to bring in a driver mid-season that driver is familiar with the car and doesn't have to start learning from scratch.
I understand the cost implications of it are probably the main set-back. As far as I'm aware most teams don't even bring a T-car with them to Grand Prixs anymore but I think the bigger teams would be able to afford it and even with a 6 or 7 car grid I still think it would be worthwhile.
What do you guys think? Should I be sending a memo to Bernie?
