Gary Anderson: More sprints, longer training

      Some time ago James Vowles spoke in favour of reducing the race weekend programme to two days: the Williams team principal believes that would make it possible to increase the number of rounds. We outlined his proposal, which, of course, not everyone supports, but, for example, Stefano Domenicali, the president of Formula 1, also thinks that "free practice sessions are only interesting to a narrow group of specialists," so the weekend format needs to be changed to ensure there are always events happening on track. Gary Anderson, a former race car designer and now an expert for The Race, believes more sprint races could be held while at the same time increasing the length of practice sessions: "I've been involved in Formula 1 for more than 50 years, and there used to be far fewer rounds in the season. For most of them back then we (all eight of us) just travelled in a minibus; there were no mobile phones then, so when we parted we told our families, 'see you in about a week.' If you add up the number of days team personnel now spend away from home, the difference wouldn't be that big, however I still think that 24 races a year is quite enough. I agree, sprints and their qualifying sessions are more interesting than practice, and increasing the number of short Saturday races will benefit Formula 1. There could probably be 12 of them, and that would be enough. We complain about difficulties with overtaking and constantly introduce artificial measures to increase position changes, for example raising the pit-lane speed limit or making the speed difference between tyre compounds more pronounced, but that achieves nothing. But if a reverse-grid principle were applied in six of the 12 sprint races, it might force teams to build cars with simpler, more consistently working aerodynamics and more effective cooling systems so they cope better with traffic. Since there are no tests during the season, in my opinion Friday practice sessions at those rounds that do not include a sprint are still important because they allow teams to find the right setup and get the most out of their cars. Of course all teams have excellent simulators that embody the latest technology, but it's also widely known that nothing can replace testing on a real track. I would even suggest that during non-sprint weekends the duration of the two Friday practice sessions be increased by another half hour so teams have more time to work on setups and make the necessary changes to the cars' configuration. Every effort should be made to improve the spectacle and quality of the races (where possible), rather than merely increasing their number."