“Nobody would go and watch Formula 1 if it started at 7am in the morning, so it’s starting at a good time,” Halttunen added. “Long days are no issue but we have to also think about the audience and who will come and at what time, so for me it’s brilliant and the stage is brilliant.”
Several drivers were also complimentary about the format.
Ott Tänak told DirtFish: “It’s basically how Sunday should be. It’s not really about making it as long as possible, it’s more to make it entertaining and like a quick shootout where everybody pushes to the maximum and I think that’s the way it is at the moment.”
Rovanperä said it was the “right thing for the fans” as “we can build something where everybody can stay in the one place and can make a big show for everybody”, with his Toyota team-mate Sébastien Ogier also a fan of the concept.
World championship leader Elfyn Evans, however, had some reservations, feeling the penalty in terms of championship points was too large if things didn’t go to plan.
“It’s a brilliant format, I think it’s great,” he added. “The only thing I would say is that probably for how many points are on offer, we should be doing more mileage than this. 40 kilometers is a bit too short, but that’s just because of the championship points as it is.”