Domenicali on reverse grids for F1 sprints: ‘Nothing fake about it’

The sporting element of Formula 1 remains important to boss Stefano Domenicali, even if Liberty Media has faced criticisms in recent years for elements like sprint races.

While resistance to the Saturday sprint format has died down, it has not gone away completely – even if the format used this year is probably the best so far.

Although Domenicali thinks the sceptics should not be totally ignored, he has no doubts that sprints work. In fact, he is not against having up to eight per year – with potentially some spice added to the way the grid is made up.

“I remember when we introduced them we had a lot of criticism from the purists – who we need to always listen to, even to the ones who are not happy with it,” Domenicali said.

“But I feel that now the thing has shifted completely the other way around. I think that the change we’ve introduced this year is the right one for many reasons – with separate qualifying and parc ferme. The flow is much better today.

“I think that we are not in a position to say that we’re going to be like MotoGP, for example, with a full race calendar situation of sprints. But there is margin to grow, maybe for one third of the calendar. That could be a possibility.

“And then, of course, there are certain topics that are always quite debatable. We can really once again discuss if there is the need to reverse the grid, or half of the grid like what F2 and F3 are doing. So these are always things to keep the mind alive, if I may say, with the intent to keep something always interesting.”

From his perspective, despite being an F1 purist at heart, Domenicali is one who supports the idea of reverse grids.

“Personally, I would say, why not? It’s a lot of action. It is overtaking. You’re fighting for points?

“Some people can say, ‘Oh, it is a fake way of racing.’ Fake? There is nothing fake related to what you believe is the right format to produce great action. So I would be interested to discuss that again. Yes.”

More action

What Domenicali thinks should be an idea for F1 is that every session on a grand prix weekend has a competitive element and a reason for fans to watch.

He especially does not understand why, in an era when teams are running endless simulations to perfect their set-ups, F1’s normal weekend format allows for three practice sessions…