Suggested Liberty Media changes to F1 race weekends revealed

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed that a change to the schedule of grand prix weekends is being considered for 2020.

The look of a race weekend has been under some scrutiny recently, with Liberty Media looking to introduce a three-race trial of qualifying races next year.

Drivers and team members alike offered a range of opinions about the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, which saw qualifying and the race bunched together on the Sunday after Saturday's activities were called off amid the threat of Typhoon Hagibis.

Currently, teams undertake their media and sponsorship duties on the Thursday before a race weekend, with two practice sessions following on the Friday.

But Steiner says the two could be pushed together into a single day in order to find more free time amid a record-breaking 22-race schedule in 2020.

"There are talks to condense a Friday of a Grand Prix weekend," Steiner said.

"The talk is to just do running on a Friday afternoon, with all the other PR activities taking place in the morning. I think that would be a good way forward, especially with an extended calendar."

Steiner added of the manic nature of Sunday in Suzuka: "I think to do it like this, it made for a very busy Sunday. The day flew past very quickly, you're all very busy and everything needs to be done a lot quicker.

"I don't think it had an effect on team personnel, they just had to adapt, and our guys adapted pretty well. I would just say it was too much for one day – having both qualifying and the race on one day, but in those circumstances, it was the right decision. Everybody coped and I think it was an interesting race."

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