F1 to scratch Thursday from weekend format

Race weekends in Formula 1 will be slashed from four to just three days from 2021, it has emerged at Suzuka.

A typhoon forced the cancellation of all track activities on Saturday, meaning that the sport is in effect testing the three-day format this weekend.

"I think the two days is enough," said Daniel Ricciardo.

"There are 22 races next year, and at the moment each race takes five or six days in total, as we arrive in the area on a Tuesday. If the weekend is only two days, it would be much easier to do those 22 races," he added.

Currently, Thursday is 'media day' in F1, with Friday reserved purely for practice. But Liberty Media wants Friday to be media day from 2021, with a single practice session late in the day.

"We don't need four hours of practice," said Ricciardo. "Especially when you look at how many tyres we get.

"Personally, I'd be happy with less (practice)."

It is believed that F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn told the teams at Suzuka that Thursday will be completely scrapped from 2021.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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