Bojan Vrbnjak
Because we will be witnesses this year record number of races (23), Formula 1 decided to change the format of the racing weekend, in order to ensure that the staff of the teams will not be overburdened to the limit.
Ordinary Thursdaysintended for media, have been abandoned, although the installation of living quarters and the arrangement of garages will still take place that day. The main schedule changes relate to training time, which began on many tracks before 11 p.m.. Before the season starts, it is Andrew Shovlin, head of engineers at Mercedes, explained the new racing weekend system. “The format of the racing weekend itself is changing quite a bit. The aim is to try to give teams less time to work on race cars, to give staff more time off the track,”So the British v Mercedes video on YouTube channel.
"This really stems from the fact that the calendar is getting more and more extensive and we need to make sure that people don’t work too much. So the weekend starts later. The biggest changes are actually on Friday, when the first workout is at 14pm and the second at 17pm. In Europe, the track will cool down during the second practice and then you have less time for the race car in the evening. You only have three hours left. Teams are allowed to stay in the offices for five hours, but in fact this is still much less time than we usually have," so Shovlin.
"During this period, you try to complete the race car specification, try to collect all the data from both workouts and thus find the best settings for Saturday’s workout and qualifiers. On Saturday and Sunday, the format is actually very similar, so the biggest challenge will be adjusting to the new Friday,”The engineer concluded Mercedesa.
