Hamilton says alternative F1 race formats “definitely needed”

Lewis Hamilton is open to Formula 1 mixing up its race format at different grands prix, including Ross Brawn’s suggestion that it could trial changes in a non-championship event.

The three-time world champion has previously stated that he would like the weekend format to change, and on being told about Brawn’s idea for a non-points race – to trial a different type of event – he was supportive.

“That doesn’t sound like a terrible idea – a new format is definitely needed for Formula 1,” Hamilton told reporters during testing at Barcelona.

“Thursday to Sunday has been the same for the last 11 years, since I’ve been here.

“With the way these cars are, with the continued direction in design which makes it difficult for us to overtake, we’ve got to come up with some different races.

“Maybe every other race is a different scenario? When we get to Monaco we can’t just do the same race format because nobody can overtake there.

“Maybe they need to spice it up and do something different. Maybe have a sprint race?

“I don’t know. There are lots of ideas but I’m not going to share them.”

Liberty’s new ideas “great”

Hamilton said he was happy to see F1’s new owner Liberty Media trying to shake things up to improve the championship’s appeal.

“It’s great they are coming up with new ideas,” he said. “The potential of Formula 1 is not reached in terms of global success, it’s far from [reaching] it to be honest.

“I’m hoping with the help of everyone here these guys will be able to squeeze out that extra bit to take it to the masses.

“I don’t know if it’ll ever be as big as football, but closer to those guys.”

Haas chief warns of cost implications

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner has warned that a non-championship race would need to be held on a sound commercial basis given the cost of competing, rather than simply as a regulations experiment.

Steiner stressed that he had not spoken to Brawn about the plan, but the expense involved in competing could make it an unattractive prospect.

“My first opinion is why should we go there, it’s not part of the championship so what do we get out of it?” said Steiner when asked by Autosport about the potential cost.

“Yeah, we find out the regulations, but there needs to be a commercial aspect as well.

“Maybe he has a bigger plan behind it, which could be that it’s like the old days when you had races outside the championship and you still got spectators.

“But to stage a race to find out rules? It would be pretty expensive to do that.”