"It seems that we've created more load" - F1 drivers want the sport to consider going back to the old weekend format

Several drivers expressed their thoughts on the new sprint race format introduced for the 2022 F1 season and the modifications made to the regular weekend format by moving all media activities to Friday. They claimed that it may be better for the sport to return to its original format because of the added amount of work squeezed into the same three days.

Williams' Alex Albon claimed that it would "benefit everyone" to return to the old F1 Grand Prix weekend format, saying:

“I think we should consider it [going back]. We’ve done what we’ve done to reduce the load on everyone. But at the same time, it seems that we’ve created more load. And it does seem on Fridays, especially right now, we would love to be talking with engineers and getting ready for a very busy weekend. But instead we have media duties, which is fine. But then on Thursday we were also pretty busy. And it hasn’t really changed Thursdays. So I think, for us, we will have a discussion and see where we can improve things. I think it benefits everyone as well for it to happen.”

2022 F1 rookie Guanyu Zhou is the only driver on the grid who has not experienced the old weekend format as a full-time driver. The Chinese driver, however, agrees that some changes to the current format would work better for the teams. He said:

“Yeah, obviously, I haven’t experienced the old one, but I was there as like a test driver for the other team in the past. But it seems to be like was the new format, it didn’t really increase our time to be spending with the engineers. It’s just more that we do more media activity, so that we don’t get to finish on Thursday earlier. I think if anything we finish the same time but then we start Friday, the same or earlier than before. I think Max already mentioned. So I think it’s something that we can take into consideration. Maybe try to, you know, do some changes. That would be nice.”

Haas' Kevin Magnussen added, saying:

“Well, if the reason for the change was to make the weekend shorter that certainly hasn’t worked. But, you know, for me, that’s okay. My problem with it is that you go through a lot of interviews in a weekend. And it’s hard because you’re answering the exact same question. So although it’s about the subject that you’re very excited about, that wears off, through Thursday and then into Friday, and you know, it becomes a bit hard to be authentic at the end, when you’ve answered the same question 30 times. But you know, it’s not really up to me.”

Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly were also in complete agreement with the comments made by the three drivers.

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"Step in the right direction" - Pierre Gasly on new 2022 F1 rules

Drivers were asked if the new rules introduced for this F1 season have truly made it easier to race closer together and how the increased DRS has affected wheel-to-wheel racing and overtaking. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly opined that there has definitely been an improvement.

Describing the impact of the rule change on closer racing, he said:

“Well, personally, I do feel it is. it is an improvement compared to last year on all aspects. So I’m pretty happy so far with what we’ve seen. I do believe we can raise closer to each other. Tyres are slightly less sensitive compared to last year. Can we do better than what we have? Maybe… And probably. But it’s clearly a step in the right direction.”

With the first sprint weekend of the 2022 F1 season scheduled for today at Imola, it is expected that close racing will be on full display.