The format of the press conference in Bahrain has been announced. The FIA ​​seems to be moving away from interview sessions with two drivers, in order to get through all the press moments in a shorter time frame. Max Verstappen takes his place during the first session.

In 2022, the drivers’ press times will no longer be on Thursdays but on Fridays. Formula 1 changed this to try and shorten race weekends slightly. That way, drivers and teams don’t have to be ready for the Thursday media sessions. This also affects the content of press conferences.

Verstappen can start

In recent years, F1 had dropped the multi-driver model at a press conference. In the past, F1 would select six drivers and journalists would ask them questions for half an hour. However, some drivers had better stay home, because they haven’t received a single question.

Although the proportions with two pilots in 2021 have also sometimes been lost, in recent years you have heard many more pilots. Now the FIA ​​has to abandon this model again, because it is simply taking too long. As the practice sessions are also scheduled for Friday, the FIA ​​must shorten the press moments somewhat.

Horner and Wolff separated

The FIA ​​has created four groups of five drivers, each of which will be available to the media for half an hour in Bahrain. At 9.30 a.m. Dutch time, the first session will start with Verstappen. The Dutchman is in the same group as Guanyu Zhou, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher and Lando Norris.

The press conference for team management members, which normally took place on Friday between the first and second free practice, has been moved to Saturday. For the third free practice, there are two groups of three, where Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, among others, will be able to speak to the press.

The FIA ​​conferences held for the end of the week.

FIA press conferences for this weekend.#F1 pic.twitter.com/KnJp3D0nhB

—Albert Fabrega (@AlbertFabrega) March 17, 2022