RaceFans Round-up: Reverse grid sprint races under consideration again

In brief

Domenicali floats reverse grid proposal again

Domenicali expanded on his desire to see more competitive sessions and less practice during race weekends in future. Speaking to Corriere della Serra the F1 CEO suggested “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.”

The disrupted grids caused by multiple penalties at races such as this year’s Belgian Grand Prix show “the beauty of having reshuffles in the race, more overtaking,” said Domenicali. “We have an obligation to try.”

F1 repeatedly tried to introduce reverse grid races without success before Domenicali replaced Chase Carey as CEO at the beginning of last year. The proposal was blocked by some teams, including Mercedes, whose team principal Toto Wolff described it as “not something we should even come close to in Formula 1.”

Latifi criticises ‘slow’ stewards

Nicholas Latifi said the Italian Grand Prix stewards were too slow to penalise Kevin Magnussen for cutting the Rettifilo chicane on the first lap of the race.

“I got really compromised in the first corner, just got sandwiched between cars and tried to avoid getting crashed into,” he explained. “One of the Haases cut the corner with no consequence at all. It came from behind me, because it was behind me into the first corner, and then he exited two or three places in front of me. So I think the stewards were a bit asleep there because it was multiple laps and they didn’t do anything.”

Latifi said the setback compromised his race as he spent the opening laps “stuck behind the Haas.” Magnussen was eventually given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

“In clean air I think I was quicker than them but the problem is we have no grip through the corners,” he said. “They’re pulling like a second through the corners and we gain maybe some of it back in the straights. And the race was compromised from there.”

Zhou pleased by points return

Zhou Guanyu was relieved to score his first points finish for seven races after taking 10th place at Monza.

“It was quite an intense…