Formula 1’s sprint event format returns for a second season in this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The first of three sprints this year will take place at Imola following off-season revisions which Liberty Media hope will win over more fans to a format change which has proved divisive.
Only one change of substance has been made. The extra Saturday races will now award more points: Eight for a win instead of three, running down to one point for eighth place instead of third.
The other alterations are merely cosmetic. These include renaming the Saturday race from ‘sprint qualifying’ to the ‘sprint session’.
This appears to be part of an attempt by F1 to downplay how the sprint events supplants the traditional qualifying session as the means of deciding the starting grid.
In the same vein, F1 has been at pains to claim one of the most frequently criticised aspects of the sprints has been addressed. Last year several drivers, as well as many fans, objected to the Saturday…