LEWIS HAMILTON could chase a £10million cash pot next season as part of radical plans to spice up Formula One.

Motor racing chiefs are considering a special shoot-out session to replace practice on a Grand Prix Friday with a £500,000 prize at each race.

The idea has been discussed by the new Formula One Teams’ Association which is looking at all aspects of F1 in a bid to improve the show for fans and television viewers.

Hamilton’s McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, who heads FOTA’s sporting working group, has admitted the current Friday schedule offered little value for spectators.

Whitmarsh said: “We are looking at the whole format of a race weekend.

“If you give a Formula One race team the chance on the Friday beforehand to go on the race track where they are going to race on the Sunday then we must have been nuts to think that all we will be doing is engineering testing.

“We are all as bad as one another. No one is doing the normal disciplined testing. We are preparing for the race.

“So we say, is this good value? Does it help the show?

“Or do you perhaps do something where you say let’s cut practice down to 45 minutes only.

“Then maybe you give a completely different specification of tyres and you create a mini competition where everyone tries to set the fastest time — and you give a million dollars to the winning driver. It means there would be something more to write about and it introduces the weekend. It is separate from the race.

“The good thing is that people now realise that we do have to do something and I think we are having quite a creative open discussion.”

The new format would see the usual two 90-minute practice sessions — which attract few spectators with drivers often staying in the garage to preserve tyres — being scrapped.

Hamilton, who earns £10m per season, is like many of his fellow drivers in being on a salary — but some are only on a bonus system based on the number of points they score.

That means the new Friday pay day could see drivers risk damaging their race car chasing the cash prize.

The plan will be discussed at the forthcoming races in Japan and China and could then be put forward to the governing body FIA for the final say.