Formula 1’s smaller outfits aren’t in favour of cutting Friday practice from the present two 90-minute sessions to just one in 2015.
It’s a proposal put forward by the F1 Strategy Group – which is made up of the six largest teams – to save costs by allowing F1 personnel to arrive a day later to a race.
However Force India’s technical director Andrew Green, believes it could do the exact opposite for teams such as Force India which relies on practice sessions to give rookie drivers a chance.
“From Force India’s perspective, we don’t see this as cost-saving at all,” he said on Friday.
“For us, we’ve always looked to use the FP1 session to blood in some new drivers and that was an income stream for us and if we lose that, that’s going to be a relatively severe blow, which, in turn, will have an impact on our technical ability so in that respect, I don’t think it’s cost-saving.”
Sauber’s Giampaolo Dall’ara added: “The time at the track is very precious. Obviously we are more limited than other teams in simulation as a broad concept so time on track is extremely important for us.
“Obviously, if this happens, we would have to adapt our plans, try to – as mentioned – try to squeeze what we’re doing now in two sessions into one and move off other points, for sure.”
The proposal is to be put before the F1 Commission and the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) next month where it will either be accepted or rejected.
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