Lewis Hamilton: restricted Formula 1 practice running bad for fans
Lewis Hamilton believes Formula 1 should do more to ensure cars run on track during practice, instead of sitting in garages to conserve tyres
Four cars, including the two frontrunning Mercedes, failed to complete a timed lap in the third free practice session during the last grand prix weekend at Shanghai.
Most other cars did fewer than 10 laps across the 90-minute session, with Max Chilton's Marussia clocking the most at just 13 in total.
Hamilton believes the sport should find ways to ensure fans who turn up to the races are seeing more cars on track for more of the time.
He advocated extending the allocation of extra tyres that has been introduced for practice one this year, or freeing up engine mileage.
"I have sympathy for the people watching maybe just one car going round for the first half an hour - I think it can be managed a bit better," Hamilton said.
"When I used to turn on Formula 1 I wanted to see people driving around.
"Now I'm among the drivers, when you come into the garage and don't go out I can just imagine [what that's like for the fans].
"We can't have too much mileage on the engine so you're limited to almost 15 or 16 laps in the one session.
"We almost need a free engine and we'd be bolting around; we'd get 30 or 40 laps at least in each session.
"I think it would be good fun for the fans to see, and good for development."
Share Or Save This Story
Autosport 75: How Verstappen scored his first F1 win
The supercharged Revolution that has piqued an Olympic legend's motorsport taste
How Radical revamped its record-breaking flagship model
Why Leclerc’s battle of the brakes has left him trailing his Ferrari team-mate
The pre-race tweak that hampered Hamilton's British GP
Hamilton keeps British GP podium after escaping yellow-flag sanction
What Verstappen did – and didn't – say about his F1 future and McLaren at Spa
“A shock to the system” – Why teams fear the worst with F1’s 2026 cars at Spa
Red Bull parks 'Macarena' rear wing for Belgian GP after Verstappen crashes
Norris given Belgium GP grid penalty as McLaren takes new Mercedes power unit parts
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments