FP2 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale was halted for a total of 37 minutes due to two crashes.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lost the rear through Turn 3 and he speared into the outside barriers to create a 27-minute red flag period. Three minutes after the track went green again, Nico Hulkenberg spun his Haas into the wall out of Turn 1.
This followed an FP1 session in which 10 rookie drivers took part, enabling teams at the last opportunity to satisfy the FIA criteria to run a newcomer in each of their cars during a season.
Due to the limited running for the regular drivers, Ricciardo reckoned the countdown on the hour-long practice session needed to be paused to ensure drivers were not robbed of too much running. This would also be a system akin to basketball or American football.
Ricciardo said: “If there isn't [anything on track after F1], it would be nice to stop the clock.
“I did FP1, but a lot of drivers didn't, so they are kind of staring down an FP1 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 tonight [Friday] and look for a few more rule changes.”
Source: Autosport