Sprint format (2023)

[cplchanb]

they need to do something about this stupid format. locking in the setup after 1 hr does not help the race weekend. give them 2 hrs or have fp2 again like last year.

[the EDGE]

I've really enjoyed every sprint race we've had. I honestly don't care if some teams get the set-up wrong, that's on them.

Its 'fair' competition and that's what matters. Much better than watching practice. However I wouldn't object to a change to schedule to allow all sprint quali/race Friday evening/Saturday morning then allowing set-up changes for Main event quali/race Saturday PM/Sunday. In fact, its what I said the schedule should have been from inception

What I would hate is this idea that seems to be floating around again of reverse grids. I see no reason to have non-competitive sessions again, just for the sake of watching faster cars pass slower ones just to see some overtakes. I very much doubt I would bother making a point of watching, like I currently do

[zeph]

I was listening to The Race podcast and my thoughts are now:

- make the Sprint series a separate mini-championship, with points not affecting the actual WDC.
- make Sprint qualifying one hot lap from a standing start That's it, that's all, no retakes. The race is shorter, qualifying should be as well.
- move GP qualifying to Sunday morning, and leave Friday for FP1 and 2.
- make the Sprint race shorter. 15 laps or so. Or whatever distance the softest compound can comfortably achieve.

Or, my preferred scenario: ditch Sprint altogether

[djos]

I was listening to The Race podcast and my thoughts are now:

- make the Sprint series a separate mini-championship, with points not affecting the actual WDC.
- make Sprint qualifying one hot lap from a standing start That's it, that's all, no retakes. The race is shorter, qualifying should be as well.
- move GP qualifying to Sunday morning, and leave Friday for FP1 and 2.
- make the Sprint race shorter. 15 laps or so. Or whatever distance the softest compound can comfortably achieve.

Or, my preferred scenario: ditch Sprint altogether

If we have to have Sprint races, that scenario is the least worst option imo.

[Willows59]

If we are keeping the sprint format, I agree with the reverse grid idea, but to stop people trying to finish last to in theory start 1st, only have one qualifying for the main race and then reverse that grid. Drivers prioritise the main race rightly so, so wont try to finish last, this would make for exciting racing with teams worried about damage to the cars so will need to tread carefully and maybe extend the length of the race so that soft tyres will not last the whole race so to force a change of strategy with either going on to mediums (slower) or soft tyres then we will get pitstops.

[mendis]

I like the Sprint weekends. It's much better to watch competitive stuff throughout the weekend than 3 boring 30 minutes practice sessions (on an average that's what we get). With their world class infrastructure if a team can't get a set-up right, out of the box, well tough luck.

It's getting nauseating to hear some drivers and folks saying, oh we get to know on Saturday what the real speed of the cars is, no suspense blah blah blah. Hell we pretty much know who is faster as any weekend arrives. I wouldn't mind more sprint weekends.

[Big Tea]

I like the Sprint weekends. It's much better to watch competitive stuff throughout the weekend than 3 boring 30 minutes practice sessions (on an average that's what we get). With their world class infrastructure if a team can't get a set-up right, out of the box, well tough luck.

It's getting nauseating to hear some drivers and folks saying, oh we get to know on Saturday what the real speed of the cars is, no suspense blah blah blah. Hell we pretty much know who is faster as any weekend arrives. I wouldn't mind more sprint weekends.

Or have totally random selection of starting positions for the sprint and no 'shootout'

[stephen]

It adds something to look forward to on race weekends but F1 needs to make a few changes in this to make it more entertaining for the fans.

[f1316]

I don’t know if anyone’s said anything similar but I think I have this whole thing sorted here’s what they should do:

1. Friday consists of: FP1 followed by sprint race qualifying. The qualifying is one shot - differentiating it from the race qualifying - and they go out in reverse championship order. This means that, all things being normal (ie no rain) the track gets faster and there’s a small advantage for those lower down the championship. This achieves the aim of adding a bit more variability to the sprint grid but keeps it merit based, as you still have to do the lap.

2. Saturday consists of: the sprint race first, Grand Prix qualifying second. This not only makes the ordering of events more sequential but would enable a change where parc ferme is opened in between the two. This means competitive order might change between the sprint and the Grand Prix - meaning the weekend can evolve - and means that the teams don’t get to test their changes before locking them in again for quali (so they may or may not take a step). GP quali is unchanged.

3. Sunday is the Grand Prix, unchanged.


I still wouldn’t do it every week - keeping it special and stopping this becoming the new normal - but I do think this would build on what has worked, improve what hasn’t, and be a worthwhile addition to proceedings.

[BanMeToo]

I have this whole thing sorted

This would be a big improvement

[Sieper]

It would just introduce another gimmick. Track evolution in many tracks is massive. This is just reverse grid light.

[f1316]

It would just introduce another gimmick. Track evolution in many tracks is massive. This is just reverse grid light.

I dunno, I don’t think it’s particularly gimmicky and infinitely preferable to most of the other options being bandied around (ie actually reverse grids where going faster means you start further back…) - at least this way you’re rewarded for getting from A to B quicker. Yes, in most cases, track evolution will help the slower cars a bit but that, to me, is similar to giving them more wind tunnel/CFD time and only affects the sprint (not the proper race) anyway.

Maybe some folks would just prefer to remove the sprint altogether, and that’s valid but also quite unlikely, whereas I think this is a good and fairly realistic option for how to do a sprint.

[Sieper]

It imho is a way to look for more “spectacle’ hoping for crashes between the frontrunners as they will likely be out of position. Same reason why we have sprints.

[discojesus100]

I disagree that the idea is to setup a scenario hoping for crashes, the top established drivers have the fastest cars all year and rightfully so, but I don't think having the fastest teams face a little adversity is great to see if a Team creates a monster of a car and they have a great driver they can battle through the pack and deal with a green track in quali no worries,

I even feel it puts a tiny bit more emphasis on drivers ability in wheel to wheel battling, for 6 races out of 23 I really don't see it as unfair the fastest package will likely win the sprints anyway.