Against the backdrop of discussions in the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) related to concerns about the new calendar and drivers’ media commitments, Max Verstappen has suggested that changes are needed.
Motorsport.com has learned that the GPDA has written to F1 and the FIA to explain what drivers don’t like about the new format, as well as how they think things can be changed to make it better for everyone.
The drivers believe that the way they have to repeatedly answer the same questions from the television networks can be improved, as well as the way the current schedule works before the action on track begins.
This has to do with the change in focus on Thursday and Friday, which was intended to help compress the time spent on track, but seems to have had little impact.
F1 and the FIA have scrapped the official media day from Thursdays for 2022, moving the international federation’s press conferences to Friday mornings, in a bid to create a shorter format of just three days.
However, the drivers have been just as busy on Thursday with other commitments, and now face a longer work day on Friday, thanks to this new schedule for morning press conferences and delayed sessions. .
This planning has also not been ideal for the media, which has less content on Thursdays and finds that many of the comments that are made on Friday morning, with the training sessions that follow immediately after, are wasted because they expire.
During one of these sessions at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Verstappen spoke about the concerns that the drivers have: “I think it is more about how we are doing the press conferences and the activities with the media. I think that before it was better “.
“Now, our Thursday is very long, and officially it’s not really a day anymore. But actually for us, it’s the same number of you [journalists], or even more on a Thursday, and even more now on a Friday, when We come early.”
“Getting there early is not a problem, but the whole day gets longer. So by going to more races, you would like to have a shorter weekend.
“But now with more races, we also have longer weekends, so there are more days where we’re out on the track and doing stuff. So yeah, that definitely has to change.”
Verstappen said one of the biggest frustrations for him was also the way drivers had to deal with the same questions from TV crews separately, which got repetitive after a while.
“We do this [the press conference], then we go outside, and then we have to talk to all the individual [television] media outlets,” he explained of his routine.
“But everyone asks the same question. And you basically repeat yourself six or seven times. You try to keep it interesting to try and phrase it in a different way, but in the end, you say the same thing, don’t you?”
“What you see in other sports, when they have a press conference, there are a bunch of microphones gathered. And actually, instead of giving the reporters just two questions each, they all ask six, eight or 10 questions of once, and everyone can transmit them”.
“So I think it’s also much more efficient and enjoyable for everyone, and you get a lot more out of the drivers.”
GPDA director George Russell made it clear that the drivers’ desire for things to change is not about confrontation, but about a constructive attitude in an attempt to make F1 better for everyone.
“I’ve only been in [F1] for three full years, but between all the drivers we’re incredibly close and have constant communication with F1 and the FIA to try to improve our category in all aspects,” he said.
“It is constantly changing, but there is no more to say at the moment. But I think it is important that between the drivers, F1 and the FIA we are all on the same page and we all push in the same direction.
