Christian Horner says the second races of the double header weekends are most likely to similar to those seen in the first due to the failure of Formula 1 teams agreeing on trying out reverse grid races in 2020.
Both the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone are hosting two races back to back this season as Formula 1 attempts to recover from the delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic that has seen the first ten races of the year either postponed or cancelled.
Horner, the Team Principal of Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, says the scenario of double races could give Formula 1 the opportunity of experimentation, but with an unanimous agreement needed from all ten teams, the rejection by the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team in a vote ended the chance of reverse grids from happening.
“I think you’re never going to get a better opportunity than the back-to-back races that we have at venues like Austria, Silverstone and potentially one later in the year,” said Horner to Motorsport.com.
“The problem is I think that if we just repeat the same format at the same venue, the result is likely to be very similar.
“I think we’ve got an ideal opportunity to try something different. And as long as it’s clear going into the championship from the first race, and it’s not something that changes during the season, then we certainly wouldn’t have an issue with that.
“Unfortunately, there was one team that was against. So it will be a shame to lose that opportunity.”
Horner says that if its clear reverse races aren’t going to happen, there is not much scope for change, apart from maybe changing the track layout or running the track in reverse, although the latter is unlikely due to safety concerns.
“If a facility has the ability to run a different layout you could look at that, but I don’t think that exists in Austria,” said Horner. “That’s about the only thing you could do, running circuits round the other way. But obviously from a safety point of view it wouldn’t be possible. They’re not designed from a safety point of view to accommodate that.
“Potentially Silverstone has different layouts, but it would be a shame if this opportunity [for reverse grid races] wasn’t used to its maximum. This is a perfect opportunity to look at something different for the future as well.”
