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Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has suggested a non-championship Formula 1 round to trial a reverse-grid experiment rather than enforcing different formats at different races.
F1 wants to have 30-minute qualifying races instead of the normal qualifying format at four events in 2021, having failed to have the idea incorporated into the unusual coronavirus-hit 2020 schedule.
The idea is for the qualifying race grid to be set in reverse-championship order with the result determining the grip for Sunday’s grand prix.
There is mounting opposition to the proposal despite initial confidence from F1 that it would have the necessary support to proceed with implementing it next year, although Horner is among a group of people sceptical about it but willing to try it out.
Horner said his issue is regarding the fairness as “I can’t see how you could have a different rule for one race to the other events”, so suggested a “non-championship or invitation” event instead.
“It’s conflicting in many ways, the racer in you and the purist says it’s absolutely the wrong thing to do,” he said.
“And then of course you see a race a little bit like in Monza and that brings the point to the fore again of mixing things up.
“Obviously, the best way of mixing things up is something like a reverse grid. That is artificial, but inevitably when you have the fastest car starting at the front of the race you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out that in many cases they’ll stay in grid order.
“So I think that Formula 1 shouldn’t be scared of perhaps trying something different, and if there was an occasion, a type of venue, an invitation race or maybe even a non-championship race that something like that could be tried, it would be very interesting to see what the outcome of it would be.
“If you don’t try something you never know. And I think it’s very easy to get stuck into a rut of saying ‘that’s ridiculous, it wouldn’t work’.”
The 2020 proposal would have resulted in the qualifying race being used at the second grands prix at Red Bull’s own circuit in Austria (the Red Bull Ring) and Silverstone, as both held double-headers to help start the F1 season in unusual circumstances.
Another quirk of the coronavirus-affected schedule has been the addition of Mugello, Imola, Nurburgring, Algarve and Istanbul, which would not have held F1 races otherwise.
“We’ve got all these great new circuits that are pushing for races this year that we won’t be able to accommodate in future years,” said Horner.
“If one event was selected to try a different format, to try something totally different, what would we have to lose?”
As Red Bull owns a circuit and has massive funding attached to its F1 endeavours, it would be a logical facilitator of a non-championship race at the Red Bull Ring.
Horner seemed to either advocate Austria being used for such an event, or given a second championship round in future season, when he said “why not have two races in Austria? You could have them within a week”.
F1 non-championship races used to be a regular part of the season but the last was held in 1983.
That year’s ‘Race of Champions’ event at Brands Hatch had a weakened 13-car field as the expansion of the world championship and growth in professionalism made special events harder to justify.
Tacking a second event onto the back of the Red Bull Ring’s world championship round would seem the most sensible option for any 2021 example as it would massively reduce the logistical complication for the teams that participate.
However, it would be extremely unrealistic based on what F1 hopes to achieve next year with a full 22-race calendar, as the financial and human pressure on teams will be greater than ever.
Horner admitted it is “just an idea” that he came up with in response to a question about reverse-grids being on F1’s agenda.
“There’s so many permutations and questions surrounding it,” he said.
“It’s not something that’s been discussed with other teams or with Liberty or the FIA.
“It’s just a reaction to the question asked.”
