The top three finishers in the Sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix were Sergio Perez of Red Bull Racing in third place, Max Verstappen 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 Formula 1 World Championship round 21.
Every year, the question of how F1 Sprints work is redefined, and with the upcoming 2024 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, it is important to discuss this format. In Shanghai this weekend, there will be a practice session on Friday morning, followed by qualifying for the Sprint in the afternoon. On Saturday, the Sprint race will take place, followed by qualifying for the Grand Prix in the afternoon. The main event will then occur on Sunday.
The format of F1 Sprints 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. Cars then entered Parc Ferme conditions. On Saturday morning, there was a second practice session, followed by the 100km Sprint race in the afternoon. Points were awarded to the top three finishers, and the final order determined the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, with the winner earning pole position.
In 2022, the format was changed to provide more opportunities for scoring points. The top eight finishers were awarded 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 Pole Position was now given to the driver who set the fastest time in Friday’s qualifying session. Sprints in 2022 took place at Imola, the Red Bull Ring, and Sao 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 venues: Baku, the Red Bull Ring, Spa-Francorchamps, Qatar, Circuit of the Americas, and Sao Paulo. It became evident that the selection of circuits played a significant role in ensuring exciting Sprints, with circuits like the Red Bull Ring and Sao Paulo, where overtaking is easier, becoming regular fixtures in the Sprint calendar. Additionally, it was clear that drivers were hesitant to push too hard in Sprints to avoid jeopardizing 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, Friday afternoon’s Qualifying was preceded by FP1. On Saturday, a new session called the Sprint Shootout was introduced, which determined the starting grid for the Saturday afternoon Sprint race. This race did not impact the Grand Prix results, thanks to Friday’s qualifying session. The Sprint Shootout had unique rules, with different types of tires mandated 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 break into 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 last year, criticized the format, calling it unfavorable. He stated that the top eight positions were consistently dominated by the top four teams, making it a predictable and uninteresting competition. Max Verstappen was even more critical, suggesting that the entire format should be abandoned. He believed that Formula One should focus on allowing every team to compete for a win instead of implementing artificial excitement.
Sergio Perez had a more balanced perspective, stating that he would be satisfied 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 correcting these problems before implementing the format more widely. Another issue raised was the limitation of car set-up due to Parc Ferme rules, which locked teams into their setups after only one hour of practice on Friday mornings.
This incident came back to haunt both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in Austin, Texas last Fall. They were disqualified after post-race inspection revealed excessive wear on the planks of their cars. 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 experienced this problem in Austin before, it’s just that we had a sprint race this time. An easy solution for that is to approach the weekend differently, where the car is not set from Friday morning, especially on the bumpiest track we’ve been to.”
Despite the criticisms from drivers, particularly World Champion Verstappen, Formula 1 remains determined to make Sprints a success. As a result, the format has undergone changes in 2024 in response to the concerns raised by drivers. By moving Sprint Shootout qualifying to Friday afternoon and the Sprint to Saturday morning, F1 has allowed for two separate periods of parc ferme. Initially, parc ferme will be implemented to cover the two Sprint sessions following Friday morning practice. It will then be reopened before GP qualifying on Saturday afternoon, allowing teams to make further adjustments.
Now, it’s time to observe how the revised format performs in Shanghai this weekend and at the other five Sprint weekends of the year: Miami (03-05 May), Red Bull Ring (28-30 June), COTA (18-20 October), Sao Paulo (01-03 November), and Qatar (29 November-01 December).