Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali is certainly no stranger to pushing the sport towards change, with the former Ferrari boss having been a key part of the introduction of sprint races last season.
The Italian has now released some details on his next big idea to make the sport more entertaining, or in other words, more complicated!
Domenicali is looking into the possibility of awarding points during free practice and the dreaded prospect of ‘reverse grid’ races.
Former F1 CEO Chase Carey was the first to try and introduce ‘reverse grid’ races, but his bid was sensationally rejected by some teams.
READ: Helmut Marko to fly to Tokyo as Red Bull scramble to reignite Honda partnership
Mercedes were one of those, with the team’s boss Toto Wolff, describing inverted grid races as “not something we should even come close to in Formula 1”.
To Wolff’s dismay, Domenicali is pushing once again for reverse grid races, after admitting that he feels the sport has an “obligation to try” the questionable concept.
“Each session should be giving away either points, or single qualifying laps, or a qualification for a different and shorter Saturday race, instead of the third free practice, perhaps with the mechanism of the inverted grid,” Domenicali suggested to Corriere della Serra.
“The beauty of having reshuffles in the race, more overtaking.
“We have an obligation to try.”
The recent Italian and Belgian Grand Prix’s somewhat support the CEO’s point, with the two races having seen a number of the usual frontrunners have to come from the bottom half of the grid following grid penalties.
READ: Toto Wolff and Christian Horner disagree as Abu Dhabi GP controversy re-emerges
It could be argued that having the frontrunners starting at the back of the grid this season hasn’t changed the result, with Max Verstappen having won the races at Spa and Monza despite starting not where he qualified.
On the other hand, it could see teams attempting to qualify poorly on purpose, in order to gain a beneficial starting spot.
There are clearly a lot of issues surrounding the concept, something which will likely mean the type of race won’t be seen for at least a couple of seasons; that’s if the teams even support the concept being trialled.