The NASCAR experiment that could teach F1 a lesson
While Formula 1 rejected the chance to trial reversed grids at double-header races in 2020, NASCAR rolled the dice by flipping the top 20 for the second legs at Darlington, Charlotte and Pocono. Autosport crunches the data to assess whether F1 missed a trick
Ah, reversed grids. They're like a bad smell that just won't go away, aren't they? Always lingering in the background, occasionally wafting forwards until enough people have complained that someone cracks out the air freshener to grant some brief respite, until the cycle begins anew.
The latest attempts to introduce reversed grids in Formula 1 for the second races at the Austrian and British double-headers were vetoed by Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Fearing the world champions' competitive advantage would be clipped having to fight through the pack in the proposed Saturday qualifying races to set the grid for the Sunday grand prix, Wolff put the stoppers on F1's second push at reversed grids - following the abandonment of a similar attempt last year that failed to meet with universal approval in the paddock.
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