F1 Managing Dir of Motorsports Ross Brawn said that Owner Liberty Media has "considered dropping Friday practice to help to squeeze more races into the calendar," according to Adam Cooper of MOTORSPORT.com. Brawn suggested that scrapping Friday practice is an "option to ease logistical pressure on the teams." However, he also "admitted that the idea of a two-day race weekend clashes with efforts to give promoters something more to sell, with a number of European races having this year expanded to the four-day format used by the Australian Grand Prix, with support categories running on Thursday." Brawn: "Quality is the vital thing. There’s no point in having more races unless they are quality races -- so location, the type of track, the ability to have a great race there is vital." He added, "We’re not looking at changing the core event. But ... if we didn’t have Friday running, we could do more races, because logistically it’s better for the teams. But Friday running is important for the promoters and the broadcasters." Brawn added, "One of the things I’m proud of this year is the change in the relationship with the promoters, with the race tracks. We’re an organisation now that wants to say ‘yes’ when the promoter needs something. Here we moved the qualifying back two hours (in Austin) to 4pm, and [Circuit of the Americas Chair] Bobby Epstein told me this morning that he had 20,000 more spectators for qualifying than he’s ever had before. So we’re very receptive with how we work with the promoters, and I promise you that was not the case in the past" (MOTORSPORT.com, 10/24).
