The top three finishers in the Sprint race of the Brazilian Grand Prix were Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing in third place, Max Verstappen also of Red Bull Racing in first place, and Lando Norris of McLaren in second place. This event took place on November 4, 2023, as part of the 21st round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
Each year, the question of how F1 Sprint races work is redefined, and with the next Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix in 2024, it is important to discuss this format. In Shanghai this weekend, there will be a practice session on Friday morning, followed by Sprint qualifying in the afternoon. On Saturday, the Sprint race will take place, followed by Grand Prix qualifying in the afternoon. The main event will then happen on Sunday.
The format of F1 Sprint races has undergone several revisions since its debut three years ago. In 2021, Sprints were introduced on three GP weekends: Silverstone, Monza, and Sao Paulo. Initially, there was a practice session on Friday morning, followed by a standard qualifying session in the afternoon to determine the grid for the Sprint race. The cars then entered Parc Ferme conditions. On Saturday morning, there was a second practice session, followed by the 100 km Sprint race in the afternoon. Points were awarded to the top three finishers, and the final order determined the grid for the Sunday Grand Prix, with the winner securing pole position.
In 2022, the format was changed to provide more scoring opportunities. The top eight finishers received points on a scale of 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. The result of the Sprint race still determined the grid for the Grand Prix, but the Pole Position was now given to the driver who set the fastest time in the Friday qualifying session. The Sprints in 2022 took place at Imola, Red Bull Ring, and São Paulo, but there were some criticisms that needed to be addressed, such as the unnecessary second practice session on Saturday mornings.
Therefore, in 2023, the format was changed for the third consecutive year and tested at six different locations: Baku, Red Bull Ring, Spa-Francorchamps, Qatar, Circuit of the Americas, and São Paulo. It became evident that the selection of circuits played a significant role in ensuring exciting Sprints, with circuits like Red Bull Ring and São Paulo, where overtaking is easier, becoming regular events on the Sprint calendar. Additionally, it was clear that drivers were hesitant to push too hard in the Sprints to avoid compromising their chances in the Grand Prix.
To address this issue, more points were introduced in 2022, but the risk of a poor result still outweighed the benefits for the drivers.
In 2023, the tabloid format for the Grand Prix weekend underwent significant changes. Instead of the traditional format, the Friday afternoon qualifying was preceded by FP1. On Saturday, a new session called Sprint Shootout was introduced, which determined the starting grid for the Saturday afternoon Sprint race. This race did not impact the results of the Grand Prix, thanks to the Friday qualifying session. The Sprint Shootout had unique rules, with different mandatory tire types for each qualifying session.
Formula One Management believed that this new format would attract more viewers by offering competitive sessions on each day of the Grand Prix weekend. Additionally, the Sprint race no longer affected a driver’s starting position for the Grand Prix. However, some drivers expressed their preference for more practice time rather than an additional qualifying session. Smaller teams, who rarely had a chance to enter the top eight, saw little value in participating in the Sprint race without a significant reward.
Alex Albon, after finishing ninth in the Baku Sprint race last year, criticized the format, calling it unfavorable. He stated that the top eight positions were consistently dominated by the top four teams, making the competition predictable and uninteresting. Max Verstappen was even more critical, suggesting that the entire format should be abandoned. He believed that Formula 1 should focus on allowing all teams to compete for a win instead of implementing artificial excitement.
Sergio Perez had a more balanced perspective, stating that he would be content with a few races using the Sprint format per year. However, he emphasized the need to address issues such as timing and tire usage. He mentioned that it was concerning to see cars without tires during Q3 and suggested fixing these issues before implementing the format more widely. Another issue raised was the limitation on car setup due to Parc Ferme rules, which locked teams into their configurations after just one hour of practice on Friday morning.
This incident came back to haunt both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Austin, Texas, last fall. They were disqualified after a post-race inspection revealed excessive wear on their cars’ boards. If Parc Ferme had been reopened between the Sprint and Grand Prix sessions, Ferrari and Mercedes could have potentially avoided this issue. Hamilton commented on the situation, saying: “We’ve never had this problem in Austin before, it’s just because we had a Sprint race this time. An easy solution to this is to approach the weekend differently, where the car is not set up from Friday morning, especially on the bumpiest track we’ve ever been on.”
Despite criticism from the drivers, especially world champion Verstappen, Formula 1 remains determined to make Sprints a success. As a result, the format underwent changes in 2024 in response to concerns raised by the drivers. By moving the Sprint Shootout qualifying to Friday afternoon and the Sprint to Saturday morning, F1 allowed for two separate Parc Ferme periods. Initially, Parc Ferme will be implemented to cover the two Sprint sessions after Friday morning practice. It will then be reopened before qualifying for the GP on Saturday afternoon, allowing teams to make additional adjustments.
Now, it’s time to see how the revised format performs in Shanghai this weekend and in the other five Sprint weekends of the year: Miami (May 3-5), Red Bull Ring (June 28-30), COTA (October 18-20), Sao Paulo (November 1-3), and Qatar (November 29-December 1).
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