Reverse grid races and points handed out for the fastest time in practice were among the ideas floated by Stefano Domenicali as the Formula 1 chief discussed potential future changes to the sport.
The sport has grown rapidly over the last few years, since it was bought by Liberty Media. Much of the credit is often attributed to the Netflix Drive to Survive series, which certainly attracted a wave of new fans by putting the sport's biggest personalities on display.
To keep those new interested spectators invested in the action itself, rather than just the off-track drama, changes to the way race weekends work have been proposed. The first of those, Sprint Qualifying, is already being used.
That format gives fans an extra, shorter race to watch, taking place on the Saturday at selected tracks while the main event takes place as normal the following day. More racing action is welcomed by some, though others don't like the change and see the 100km sprints as little more than a glorified procession.
But the sport's bosses are very keen on the idea – only opposition from some of the teams themselves have prevented the Sprint format from being extended already. And chief executive Domenicali has talked about further new ideas that could be introduced in the coming years.
"You have to try [to implement new ideas]," he told Corriere della Sera. "There are always many excuses not to do it. It is a life principle. Purists will always turn up their noses, but over the years, F1 has changed the way of qualifying dozens of times. It is a need that cannot be postponed, to have even more show.
"In a normal weekend, the one consisting of Free Practice 1 and 2 on Friday, 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."
A reverse grid has already been put to teams as a genuine idea, and was rejected two years ago. But clearly Domenicali has not given up on that plan, and argued that a mixed-up grid would lead to more overtaking, and therefore more exciting action.
"We are putting a lot of things on the table," he added. "Many say no, but we have seen on some occasions the beauty of having reshuffles in the race, more overtaking. We have an obligation to try."
