Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto has readdressed the opportunity to add reverse grid races to Formula 1 and revealed the Italian side was the team to push for the format ahead of the sprint trials.
The second of the Formula 1 sprint weekends takes place this at Monza, as qualifying is shifted to Friday afternoon in order to make way for a 100km-event that will determine the starting positions for the 2021 Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
When the format was first taken into consideration, several debates took place regarding the possibility that the result of qualifying be reversed for the event on Saturday. Yet many teams, including Mercedes, did not agree to this idea.
The first weekend of the sprint was positively received yet Formula 1 director motorsports Ross Brawn admitted that the F1 could make the shorter events standalone, so that qualifying is rewarded with pole position.
Asked if he was a fan of reverse grids, Ferrari team principal Binotto said: “I like it. I like it because I think for the show, the spectacle can be of interest. At the very start of the discussion for the mini-race format, as Ferrari, we were the ones proposing it because whatever is your position in the classification it brings extra spectacle. That is important for our fans and important for the entertainment F1 may offer.” – the Ferrari boss explained on Friday at Monza.
The final sprint race format will take place in Brazil later this year, after which F1 can evaluate the positive and negative aspects gathered from this experience and finetune the format ahead of potential introduction on a wider scale for the 2022 championship
Mattia Binotto admitted that the sport must wait until after all trials have been completed before suggesting tweaks after Brawn’s comments ahead of Monza.
“After the first time we had the sprint qualifying race this season we were all positive and as a first attempt, it was certainly interesting. We said that at first, we should try to conclude the experiment before we finally judge. Here at Monza, it is the second attempt and we will have a thrid one this season. I said it at the start, this weekend may be interesting as well because it is a different format to the normal one, so having the quail on the Friday, having only one hour for the drivers to prepare for it and going straight into attack is something which is interesting because it jeopardises the overall balance and performance of the teams. In favour, generally speaking, I am pretty sure that we can address it in terms of details, I think there are things that can be improved. Those ones are open-minded to discuss with F1, the FIA and other teams and we can do it only after the three races and when the full experiment can be concluded.” – the Ferrari boss said.
Leave a Reply