Daniel Ricciardo wants ‘nice’ rule change after interrupted Abu Dhabi practice

Daniel Ricciardo has urged Formula 1 to change the red flag regulations for practice after the drivers were limited to just 27 minutes of running in FP2 in Abu Dhabi.

With half the field already on the back foot having sat out the opening practice hour as their teams covered their second of two mandatory junior driver outings, FP2 got off to a bad start when Carlos Sainz crashed.

The Spaniard brought out the red flag eight minutes into the session with his SF-23 snapped to the left through the fast Turn 3 right-hander, resulting in a big crash.

10 of the F1 drivers had just 27 minutes of practice on Friday

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

As the barriers needed to be fixed, that wiped nearly 27 minutes out of the session as the drivers sat in the pits.

However, three minutes after the green light, the red flags were again waved, this time for Nico Hulkenberg’s crash at Turn 1.

That took a further six minutes of the session, leaving the drivers with just 27 minutes of running. For 10 of them that was all they had on Friday.

Ricciardo has called on Formula 1 to change the rules, at least giving the drivers more time if there isn’t any series scheduled to be on track after F1.

“If there isn’t [anything happening on track after the session], it would be nice to stop the clock,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“I did FP1, but a lot of drivers didn’t, so they are kind of staring down an FP2 with like five laps or something. So, it would have been nice to maybe get a little bit of time back.

“That’s something we can discuss in the drivers’ briefing and look for a few more rule changes!”

PlanetF1.com recommends

F1 2023: Head-to-head qualifying and race stats between team-mates

F1 Driver of the Day: Who has won the award in F1 2023?

Hulkenberg agrees with the AlphaTauri driver but accepts it is not a “straightforward” solution.

“I think it’s a very fair point,” Hulkenberg acknowledged.

“There are obviously other implications, how the rest of the schedule has to be changed and TV times and all these things. It’s probably not as straightforward as we think.

“But obviously, we lost a good 20 minutes with Carlos’ red flag with the barrier repair. So, it’s probably going to be a talking point going forward.”

Read next: Fernando Alonso sends message to ‘expensive’ ticket holders after disrupted FP2