Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has stated he is not 'in favour' of the idea behind Saturday sprint races on a Formula 1 weekend, believing it would raise costs and diminish the importance of the main event on a Sunday.
The idea of shaking up the on-track action across a Grand Prix weekend has been a topic of discussion ever since Liberty Media took charge of F1 at the beginning of 2017.
From shortening practice time to qualifying sprint races, there has yet to be an idea where an idea has seen the majority be able to agree on the idea of changing how a Grand Prix weekend is run.
"Different parties have different opinions and objectives," said Steiner. "The promoters like to have us at the racetrack on a Friday running around because the people show up and want to watch us will not be happy – maybe the promoters, which I understand.
"Otherwise, it’s very difficult to tweak the weekend.
"If we just do a Saturday and Sunday event, somebody to cut a day out, it’s the only saving you could make.
"It was mentioned to have a sprint race on Saturday, but I think that’s an idea that’s already in the past. Qualifying is still a very integral and interesting part of Formula One on a Saturday afternoon.
"If we just start on Saturday, and maybe have two sessions then qualifying in the afternoon, we could go racing on Sunday."
Emphasis has been put on trying to reduce team budgets in the future to try and increase competition across the field, Steiner believes these changes would be detrimental to the idea due to an increased need for transport and spare parts.
With further discussions on the future of F1 ramping up ahead of the FIA and Liberty Media trying to finalise plans for 2021 and beyond still taking place, Steiner admits the idea of sprint races still isn't completely out of the question.
"I cannot comment if a sprint race is off the table completely, but I don’t favor to race on Saturdays," added the Austrian.
"First of all, it eats into our race on Sunday. If we have two races, it has a diminishing effect on the Sunday race because you’ve already had one on the Saturday.
"That’s why qualifying is an event in itself. It’s a very exciting, emotional event, and a very good one.
"It’s also not only that you could have damage, you need to have double the amount of spare parts around, and you need to have them as you’re doing two races. The chance of having damage is much higher. It’s double than just having one race.
"You need to make sure you’ve got enough spares for two races. The transport costs would be huge, to just send around all the material, and all the investment in parts would be a lot higher.
"I don’t know if it is off the table, but it’s not something I’m in favor of."
