After featuring six times this season, Formula 1's Sprint weekend format is set to undergo changes ahead of its return for the 2024 campaign; watch the inaugural Las Vegas GP on November 17-19, with every session live on Sky Sports F1
Tuesday 7 November 2023 16:37, UK
Some people love the Sprint format, some are against it and most are somewhere in the middle, but how can Formula 1 make it better?
The Sprint format was introduced in 2021 in an attempt to provide greater value for fans, adding more competitive racing to the weekend.
The initial format saw one practice session on Friday followed by qualifying, which would set the grid for Saturday's shortened race, the result of which would in turn set the grid for Sunday's full length Grand Prix.
There was also a second practice session on Saturday before the Sprint, which was ridiculous given the fact teams and drivers already had their car setups locked in for the rest of the weekend after Friday qualifying.
After three Sprint weekends in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, the format was understandably altered to replace the second practice session with a standalone Sprint Shootout (qualifying) on Saturday morning, removing the connection between the Sprint and the Grand Prix, with each now having their own qualifying.
Additionally, the number of Sprint events was doubled to six for the 2023 campaign, with some interesting scheduling pitting the final three of them in the space of four race weekends at the back end of the season, the last of which was just completed in Brazil.
While you would be hard pushed to find anyone in the paddock who disagreed with the removal of the pointless Practice Two, the six Sprints this season have made it clear that significant imperfections remain and there is work to be done to secure the format's future.
Slightly inconveniently for those running the sport, the most outspoken critic of Sprints - at least among drivers - has been world champion Max Verstappen, who having criticised the format throughout this season, turned to sarcasm in Sao Paulo.
"It's been absolutely fantastic. So much fun. I get so excited by having a Sprint again. I'm all for it," remarked Verstappen, who has won four of the six Sprints this year.
Verstappen has been more honest in the past about his opinion and insists that F1's "product works if the cars are competitive", regardless of the format.
One of Verstappen's biggest gripes with the current Sprint format is the cars going into parc ferme, when their fundamental setup can no longer be altered, after just one 60-minute practice session, unless they want to incur the significant penalty of starting the race from the pit lane.
It puts a lot of emphasis on getting your simulations right before the race weekend and finding the optimal setup in practice.
"I prefer the normal racing format. I think it's just a bit more exciting, especially in qualifying, you can go more to the limit because you know more of what you've done in practice," Verstappen said.
"For example, in Suzuka, if you do FP1 there and then go straight into qualifying, you risk having bigger shunts. It's just not as fulfilling."
Verstappen's other main criticism of the Sprint is that he believes it gives away what will happen in Sunday's Grand Prix.
"I always keep saying that once we do a Sprint race, you will get the big picture anyway for the main race," he added.
"So you know, more or less already: 'Oh, well, this guy is going to be really good in the race, the other one is going to drop back'. So it takes a little bit of the excitement away. I remember from what I was a fan, just from the outside of the F1 world, you don't know which cars are particularly amazing in the long run.
"You watch qualifying like, 'oh, wow, ok', but it might be that one car is in front and he will drop back in the race, which is all unclear. And then you wake up for the Sunday race, and then you all see them fall. Because of the Sprint race... it takes that away. You're like: 'If nothing happens, he doesn't crash, they're gonna win the race', that team or whatever."
While Verstappen thinks having one practice session before parc ferme rules kick in is detracting from the show, others think it adds to it.
The jeopardy the format brings has been clearly evidenced, for example by Mercedes dominating in Brazil last year, and being woefully off the pace this time around.
"To have one free practice and go straight to qualifying is something I enjoy," Ferrari's Charles Leclerc said.
"I think the Saturday could be changed and improved but I really like the Friday, to not have three free practice sessions is really long and sometimes it can get a bit boring.
"We always go through the same programme. So I like the fact of having only one free practice and go straight to the action with qualifying."
While accepting optimisation is possible, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton also enjoys a break from the traditional three-practice format.
"Saturday's not the greatest of days, but I like the single practice session straight into qualifying," the Mercedes driver said.
"I think we can learn. I love that we do have a different format, rather than just the same three practice sessions and then the qualifying and the race."
While there are a range of opinions up and down the paddock, just about everyone is in agreement that some tweaking is required, and that appears almost certain to happen over the winter.
Sky Sports F1 understands talks have taken place to move the Sprint Shootout to Friday evening, the Sprint to Saturday morning and qualifying to its conventional Saturday afternoon slot.
The current format creates something of a disconnect between qualifying on a Friday for a race on Sunday, with too much time and action passing between the two.
Aston Martin's performance director Tom McCullough said: "It's been tweaked already and I think it needs tweaking a bit more because now even my dad, who's quite a follower of Formula 1, sometimes says to me: 'So just remind me, is it qualifying on Friday for the main race?'
"And I just think if somebody at that level is having questions, the fans are going to get confused. So, our job is to put a simpler, better, more understandable format and still have the excitement of two races."
There is also a push, particularly from engineers, to find a way to relax parc ferme rules coming in after just one 60-minute session.
Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle has suggested extending that session to 90 minutes, while another option could be to allow teams to adjust their car setups between the Sprint race and Grand Prix qualifying on a Saturday afternoon.
There are also discussions regarding the format of the Sprint Shootout itself, as currently it's mandatory to use new medium tyres in SQ1 and SQ2, before using softs in SQ3. The segment of each Sprint Shootout session is also shorter than normal qualifying.
"If you move the sprint race on Saturday morning, then you have to make sure that you allow enough gap for teams to react for qualifying in case of problems," said Ferrari sporting director Diego Ioverno.
"There are also other options on the table. There is still not a definite proposal but our target will be once that FIA and F1 decide the format, teams will have to work together to make it good for the spectators and good for us, because it's quite tricky."
One suggestion to spice up the Sprint is to make it a reverse grid race. Whether this should be a reverse of the qualifying order or championship standings is not clear, but it would be unprecedented territory for F1.
Other motorsport categories, such as F1 Academy, have reverse grid races and it's an option which some drivers are open to.
"The best Sprint race I ever had was when I started last and so I'm in favour of the reverse order," Hamilton said.
However, the seven-time world champion warned: "Except if we had that then everyone will just try to qualify last!"
F1 Academy avoids that issue by reversing the order of a qualifying session that also sets the grid for one of the series' two regular races on a race weekend, but by mirroring this approach F1 would be without a Sprint Shootout and back to just one qualifying session.
"I think a reverse grid could possibly be an option and just have one qualifying," Sky Sports F1's Naomi Schiff said. "Make the Grand Prix qualifying the qualifying for the Sprint and reverse the order because everyone will be going full throttle in that case."
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is urging patience with a format that is still very new to the sport in relative terms.
The Spaniard said: "I wouldn't mind. I think given that the Sprint format is a bit of an experiment going on right now in Formula 1, I would be open to keep experimenting to see which format is best.
"For me the one we have now, just Saturday, doesn't feel completely right for what then comes on Sunday."
Criticism about the potential for reverse grid races has generally come from the top teams that, naturally, don't want to see their cars at the back of the grid.
However, Red Bull's Sergio Perez is a fan of reversing the grid to create more overtaking.
"I think if they want to get this format of Sprint races, we've got to change it. I would propose a reverse grid, something like that to make it more interesting for the fans," said Perez.
"I don't think it's working, what we want to achieve, nothing really happens in these sorts of races. I think it would mix up things and create more opportunities, a lot more overtaking. I mean, if we want to keep this format, give it a go on something quite different because I think for the last two years this sort of event hasn't brought a lot of good racing."
A standalone Sprint championship has also been mooted, where the points from the Sprint would not count towards the normal drivers' and constructors' standings.
This option doesn't seem to be on the cards for the future though and Red Bull boss Christian Horner doesn't see the point in another championship, instead proposing to race for more prize money in Sprints.
"Who cares about a Sprint championship? I think there's an appetite from fans to have a race on a Saturday. I prefer the old format, a quarter-final, semi-final, final," said Horner.
"What we have at the moment isn't quite right for the drivers, fans and teams. There needs to be more to it. We just won a Sprint race and nobody knows quite what to do because all the focus is on the Grand Prix.
"Maybe one thing is to have an enormous prize fund for the team and drivers. That's always a big motivation! Then you will see some celebrating at the end!
"It's maybe worth looking at it slightly differently. If you look at football, they have their main league and then cup finals. Maybe we look at something like that, that has a bigger reward attached to it."
Ultimately, it's impossible to argue with Brundle's assessment that F1's "worst Sprint race has been significantly better than the best free practice two", and for that reason the Sprint is unquestionably worth persisting with.
It's now over to F1 president Stefano Domenicali, along with the teams, to come up with a way to make the 2024 Sprints even more entertaining.
Get ready for the big one: Formula 1 in Las Vegas! See drivers race down the Strip, and past landmarks like Caesars Palace and the Bellagio, on F1's newest street track. Watch the whole Las Vegas GP weekend live on Sky Sports F1 on November 17-19. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
