The latest change to Formula 1’s sprint races has failed to win the support of many drivers, some of which said they prefer the previous version.
F1 has changed the format for the fourth time in as many years since its introduction in 2021. The revised format will be used for the second time this weekend having been introduced at the previous round in China.
F1 has moved the sprint race qualifying session to Friday, followed by the sprint race early on Saturday, then qualifying for the grand prix later that day. The change also gives teams the opportunity to alter their cars’ set-ups between Saturday’s two sessions, while previously they were locked in to their chosen configuration from Friday.
However several drivers were unenthusiastic about their first experience of the revised format. “I have to say, actually, I probably preferred the old format myself,” said Valtteri Bottas.
“There was only one practice and the qualifying straight after was for the main race, so there was a bit more at stake. And as well as with the set-up, you wouldn’t have the second chance to adjust it, so I liked that a bit before what we had last year.”
Others found it strange to go from race pace in Saturday’s first session back to qualifying trim later in the day.
“I would prefer having sprint quali and then having the GP quali the next morning,” said Logan Sargeant. “I don’t think it’s great having a Sprint race where you’re much slower than a qualifying lap and then straight to quali.”
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Oscar Piastri agreed. “I felt a little bit weird having the sprint race, because it’s obviously a race in itself, kind of, and then preparing again for qualifying – it kind of feels like the race should be [at] the end of the day.”
However unlike Bottas, Piastri appreciated the change to the parc ferme rules which allowed team to make more changes to their cars. “I think opening up parc ferme was a good thing for the drivers and the engineers.
“I’m not sure the mechanics appreciated it that much, but I think to repeat some of the stuff that happened last year, you know, with like, Lewis [Hamilton] and Charles [Leclerc] getting disqualified, I think we don’t want to see people getting disqualified because they set their ride heights a bit wrong and they can’t change. I think that was a good step forward.”
Others raised concerns over the strain put upon the mechanics by the change to the parc ferme…
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