Moves to liven up F1 Friday

On-track action on the first day of GP weekends is often sparse due to the fact that teams are loathe to use valuable sets of tyres, or because they have tested at the circuit prior to the race.

Following a meeting of team bosses last week, teams will now have two extra sets of tyres made available to them on Fridays in an attempt encourage them to run cars in both free practice sessions.

The heavy F1 testing schedule this year has meant that teams need to do less set up work when they arrive at races. Max Mosley, president of the sport's governing body, the FIA, plans to combat this with a total ban on testing at all Grand Prix circuits during a season, which would necessitate set-up work during race weekends as well as reduce testing costs.

It was also agreed at last week's meeting that the calendar will be re-shuffled and a midsummer three-week break will be added to allow team personnel to take a holiday, along with a complete testing ban in August.