Todt opposes scrapping Fridays

FIA president Jean Todt has responded to the suggestion of dropping Friday practice sessions from Grand Prix weekends, stating that he opposes the idea. 

This follows the outspoken views of Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul, who was reported this week to have fully backed scrapping them. He implied that he felt the sessions were obsolete, and that Formula One weekends require updates and changes. Todt however, spoke out about how he feels this will not happen.

"It is quite simple, we have not found anything that would be better than the current format," he stated to Speed Week.

He is open to considering alternatives, but only on one condition. "If we were to find something that we believe would be real progress, we would look at it very closely," he added.

Formula One's new owners, Liberty Media, have already been encouraged to improve race weekends and increase the anticipation among fans for track action, as well as the opportunities for interaction with the stars and cars. Liberty have already identified and highlighted this area for future development.

Friday practice in particular has recently been seen as mundane by the drivers themselves - Fernando Alonso being one. At the Brazilian Grand Prix he told the media that he believes spectators should be paid a fee to watch it, since the cars on display are evidently not spectacular enough.

"Fans want to see fast cars, something where you cannot close your mouth after you see the car passing," he said.

Alonso even admitted that despite being a driver at the heart of the action, he was asleep half an hour after leaving the circuit. He has perhaps been one of the most prominent critics of Formula One in its pre-Liberty state, and it has been reported that he will retire after 2017 if the new rule changes do not produce more exciting cars and races.

Mason Hawker