Formula 1 drivers have urged CEO Stefano Domenicali not to press ahead with the suggestion that Grands Prix could be shortened to attract more spectators.
With the rising popularity of the sport, there has been a massive influx of young fans.
But this growing demographic has brought along with itself the idea of consuming bite-sized content – something Grand Prix racing has failed to deliver, according to Domenicali.
Recently, the Italian suggested that the sport could look into the possibility of shortening the races, scrapping practice sessions and entertaining the idea of reverse grid races.
However, the drivers are not in agreement with the vision the sport is seeking to take, with veteran Fernando Alonso using the example of football to illustrate his point.
“Football matches are a little bit long; when I sit in front of the TV, I’m not watching the 90 minutes concentrated,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I go to the kitchen, go back, I mean there is always some moments of distraction.
“But no one is talking about having 60 minutes football matches or something like that. It’s a problem of the society and the kids, but not the sport, so probably it’s not needed to change.”
19-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli was in favour of adding more Sprint Races to the calendar, but he was against changing the fabric of Grand Prix racing.
“I think personally Sprint weekends are fun because they have a lot of activity,” the Mercedes driver expressed.
“You have to be on point straight away because you have one practice, then qualifying and then you go into a Sprint Race.
“But I think shorter races – I don’t think it would really work.
Already now with long races we do one-stop strategies with the tyres we have, and you know they would have to implement so many more rules for a shorter race in terms of pitstop.”
Leclerc and Ocon weigh in on shorter Grand Prix proposal
Charles commented on the soaring popularity of the sport, and yet, warned Domenicali from making drastic changes to a format that already has been working – including the current number of Sprint Races on the calendar.
“I don’t think though that we need significant changes,” the Monegasque asserted.
“I think F1 is going extremely well and that in the last years it really grew.
“Yeah, for Sprint Races, I’m kind of happy with the number of Sprint Races we have already, but that’s only a personal preference.
“But yeah, for the rest, I’m not sure what he mentioned and I would love to speak to him before commenting [on] that.”
Esteban Ocon, on the other hand, stated that contrary to what Domenicali might believe, fans would not be eager to see the racing action cut short.
“My opinion is that there’s no need to make a big change about what we have,” he contended.
“I think going to a MotoGP stage would be a bit extreme for sure, to have a spring weekend at every race.
“And I don’t think necessarily the show will be much better for sure.
“As a fan, what you want to see is more racing. We live in such a consumer world now that we want to see more spectacle, more show, and more frequently.”
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