Two-day Grand Prix weekends? "I enjoyed the challenge"

During the Grand Prix-weekend in Imola, we’ll officially have it for the first time, but at the Nürburgring we already got a sneak preview; a two day Grand Prix-weekend with no free practice on the Friday.

Challenge

Both free practice sessions on Friday couldn't take place at the Nürburgring and so the drivers had only one hour left on Saturday to set up for qualifying. George Russell could appreciate this unintentional set-up. "From my personal side, I enjoyed the challenge," said the Williams driver at GPfans. “It brings opportunity because it’s a little bit more unknown for everyone. I guess it depends on how much of a risk you would like to take as a team with these things.”

The lack of testing was also reflected in the race, according to the Williams driver. "Perhaps at the Nürburgring, the cars broke down more because we didn’t get the practice on Friday for them to have the right exact cooling levels and this and that, or drivers making more mistakes."

Chaotic

Nevertheless, Russell also sees disadvantages in abolishing Friday courses. "I think it would be a little bit chaotic because we don’t get that practice to get the right cooling on the car, to get the right brake nozzles to feed the right temperature into the tyres and finding the right downforce level." The Briton, however, still see another solution. "I do believe three practices and four hours of practice is too much. Two sessions would be nice.”