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F1 will have a newly condensed three-day weekend format for its record 23 race calendar season in 2022. Moving away from its traditional four-day format, F1 weekends will now commence on a Friday instead of a Thursday.
In its previous four-day format, the media sessions dominated Thursday, hence it was known as the media day. Along with PR and marketing activities done by teams, Thursdays were an extra day minus the track action.
Based on the new format, the Thursday media sessions will be moved to Friday morning with the two practice sessions pushed further in the day. Media sessions will be held before the first practice session and will last for a maximum duration of two hours.
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Citing the media session scheduled for Friday in the new sporting regulations, Sky Sports F1 said:
“Maximum duration of two hours, finishing no later than one hour and 30 minutes prior to the start of P1.”
According to Sky Sports F1, the media routine for the sprint race weekends is still unclear. The report, however, said that the Monaco Grand Prix, which traditionally has media activities on Wednesdays and free practice on Thursdays, will also be condensed to a Friday to Sunday weekend.
The Monaco GP weekend spanned from a Wednesday to Sunday, with Friday off for any kind of motorsport activity. According to the new condensed format, the Principality on the French Riviera will also host a short three-day weekend.
What will the new condensed F1 format mean?
Ideally, the practice sessions will get pushed further on a Friday, and the day will start with drivers and teams previewing the weekend. The Saturday and Sunday formats will remain the same. On Saturday, however, the team principals’ conference or media activities will be held at the beginning of the day rather than between FP3 and Qualifying, as reported by Sky Sports.
The new format will allow teams and personnel room to breathe, saving a lot of time in logistics and travel. This becomes essential amidst a 23 race-long calendar that commences with its first round in Bahrain in less than two months.
The full details of the new condensed format will be confirmed and revealed after the two pre-season tests in Barcelona and Bahrain. The first pre-season test is scheduled to be held from February 23 to 25 at the Circuit de Catalunya and the second test is scheduled to be held from March 10 to 12 at the Bahrain International Circuit.
