Carlos Sainz supports the idea of shorter Grand Prix weekends, claiming that there is too much practice during the three days that include four hours of free practice before qualifying and then the race.
The McLaren driver, who has impressed this season with his maturity and pace, took a leaf out of the typhoon-affected Japanese Grand Prix weekend and suggests this may be the way forward as the championship increases to 22 rounds next year with a 25-race season not unimaginable in the near future.
Sainz said in his column published on the official F1 website: "There was a lot of talk about Super Sunday, with qualifying and the race taking place on the same day.
"Amid discussions about the race weekend format for the future, a consequence of the typhoon meant F1 was able to experiment with a different weekend format and see how it impacts the spectacle.
"I fully support having shorter grand prix weekends. We have too much practice and the Formula 1 weekend is a bit too long, especially with this many races.
"However, I don’t agree with putting qualifying on Sunday as it takes away from the spectacle. By doing qualifying in the morning and then the race a few hours later, there isn’t really time to digest how good and intense a qualifying session is.
"Normally on Saturday night, there is a lot of talk about qualifying and a lot of hype for the race. Then on Sunday, as you don’t get in car till 2pm, there’s a lot of build-up and tension. I believe we need to keep this.
"I’m in favour of reducing the amount of free practice. I enjoyed doing qualifying without having done FP3 just a few hours before. It was fun having to experiment and go flat out in Q1 without really knowing what the car was going to do.
"I think it benefits the show and a shorter weekend would bring down a bit the huge amount of work that is done by the team crews, especially mechanics," explained the 25-year-old Spaniard.
Big Question: Is there too much practice during F1 weekends?
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