Veteran MotoGP team boss calls for F1-style race weekend format change

Trackhouse MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio has called for changes to be made to the qualifying format to follow Formula 1’s approach to sprint weekends.

Since MotoGP moved to the Q1/Q2 15-minute shootout format for qualifying in 2013, so much emphasis on the outcome of a rider’s weekend has been placed on Friday’s practices.

The current format sees the top 10 riders at the end of Practice on Friday afternoon advance directly to the Q2 pole shootout session, while the rest battle for two spots in Q1 on Saturday morning.

Previously, the combined times after three practice sessions determined the Q2/Q1 order, before the move to the sprint format led to the qualifying groups being based on the combined times after Friday’s running.

Now, only the second afternoon session - known as Practice - determines the qualifying groups.

With qualifying deciding the grids for both the sprint and the grand prix on a weekend, many have been critical of the current format.

Should MotoGP copy F1’s sprint format?

In F1, sprint weekends see two qualifying sessions run.

On Friday afternoon, a sprint qualifying is held to decide the grid for the short race, with a separate session staged on Saturday afternoon to determine the starting order for the grand prix.

Veteran MotoGP team boss Davide Brivio has repeated his view, previously given to Crash.net at Valencia, that this should be something the series looks in order to stop weekend’s being “compromised” by a poor Friday.

“It's a completely personal opinion, but I don't like Friday afternoon, when you already have to be in the top 10, and that affects the whole weekend,” Trackhouse team boss Brivio told GPOne.

“It would be necessary for Friday afternoon to remain as is, but to serve as qualifying for the sprint race, and then have a proper qualifying session for Sunday's race.

“This way, we would have two different grids and the weekend wouldn't be compromised from Friday afternoon onwards if something went wrong.

“In my opinion, it would also be more spectacular, create greater interest, and there would be more results to follow throughout the weekend.”