Formula 1 will “definitely” consider awarding more points for sprint qualifying races if the format is used again after 2021, according to the series’ managing director Ross Brawn.
Speaking to RaceFans in an exclusive interview, Brawn gave his verdict on sprint qualifying’s debut at last weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The new session, which took place on Saturday afternoon, was seen by a capacity crowd at Silverstone and was the first F1 race shown live on British terrestrial television in 343 days. It left Brawn, the managing director of F1, “very pleased”.“The main thing was we had some exciting racing because racing drivers can’t help themselves,” he told RaceFans. “That’s why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
“And we had some fabulous battles. They were short and sharp. The teams didn’t have a say in what happened in the race because it was just down to the drivers. So there was no strategy, no pit stops. I give it a vote of success and certainly a good platform for something in the future.”
The 17-lap Saturday race used car set-ups which were decided on Friday after first practice, meaning cars were in parc ferme conditions a day early and ran second practice on Saturday in race specification.
Brawn admitted this was one drawback of the format. “On FP2, perhaps some of the slight frustration is because it’s parc ferme they can’t do anything to the cars,” he said.
“So I think that would be a point that we could discuss with the teams and the FIA as a future tweak. In my mind, we should have FP2, and there was plenty of running going on. It gave the fans some engagement and they saw cars running around.”
Sprint qualifying will next be held at September’s Italian Grand Prix. The format is unlikely to change significantly before then and its third and final appearance this year at a yet-to-be decided grand prix.
“You could look at one or two things, but I don’t think there’ll be major,” Brawn added. “What we don’t want is to change the format of the weekend, that means the fans have to readjust to it because we certainly don’t want that.”
However Brawn admitted the format’s points system – which awards three to the winner, two to second and one for third – is something he is keen to revise. He revealed there had originally been plans for sprint qualifying to be given a proportionally similar value to a grand prix, which awards 25 points to the winner.
“If I’m honest, we started with more points and we arrived at the points we have now because we were a little concerned if the sprint ended up deciding the championship if it was late in the year,” said Brawn.
“If you had 10 points for the sprint, then – in fact, our initial proposal was a third because it’s a third of a race. But I think that’s something that can be discussed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s locked in at the moment. It’s certainly locked in for this year. But I think if we go forward with this, that will definitely be on the points to discuss whether we should make it more attractive, to score more points.”
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F1oSaurus (@)
21st July 2021, 7:29
Just stop it with these nonsensical sprint races just to get an extra standing start to spice up the show.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
21st July 2021, 15:42
Since Brawn is trying to improve the show he should add Fanboost as well. It may hasten the demise of F1 but will be fun while it lasts.
IfImnotverymuchmistaken
21st July 2021, 8:19
Well, they could’ve found some better spice for the gimmick, like no DRS for the duration of the sprint race, making it at least fair.
Mayrton
21st July 2021, 11:40
Its too early to really say, yet Liberty does already draw conclusions. I guess they like the additional revenue, no sense in awaiting the rest of the trial
Jonathan
21st July 2021, 8:27
Well after watching the first sprint (race) weekend it was ok. It still rewards merit and no silly reverse grids so it’s still the Formula 1 I’ve been watching for the last 24 years. It gave us some lighter cars so brought back a bit more flat out racing and I still got to see qualifying which I always enjoy.
I get why they want to do it as its a TV thing. They want to sell a package where an important event happens each day. Im more than happy to keep things as they are as I enjoy the build up of the practice sessions to qualifying and then the race. In reality I don’t mind this format either as it didn’t spoil my weekend and it was interesting. Im not a big stats fan so the argument over what is called pole position doesn’t bother me so much.
What sprint achieved with me was leaving me with a taste of the racing but wanting more (A bit like fine dining i.e tastes good but a small portion so McDonalds on the way home to fill up the belly lol). In that sense it didn’t take away from the Grand Prix on Sunday rather it served to increase anticipation of the main event as I was thinking about how Lewis and Max would have a big fight off the line again.
Regarding the points:
Sprint racing reminded me of a first stint for a 90’s/2000’s race where refuelling used to happen and I enjoyed that. So it was a bit nostalgic in a way so why not have a nostalgic points system and use the old 10 points for 1st, 6 for 2nd, 4 for 3rd, 3 for 4th, 2 for 5th and 1 for 6th?
Lopes da Silva
21st July 2021, 10:33
I honestly loved your idea. The Saturday race might get 25% or 30% (or leave it as it is); the points attributed could be those, yeah, making it somewhat proportionate to the duration of the Sunday race; and eventually the Saturday race might get to be called the Little Prix, by opposition to Sunday’s Grand Prix. Ok, Little Prix is not a good idea, but I’m assuming that Saturday could get a whole new racing event.
The qualifying as a ‘purist’ TV show was shut off in 2003. Today’s qualifying is based on emotion and suspense, rather than watching the drivers go on the edge. And people love it. Let’s bring more emotion, yes; create a new light-fuel Saturday race, avoiding unnecessary pratice. Suddenly you get 42 racing events with just 21 weekends. Keep the qualifying pole position statistic for the Friday winner.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
21st July 2021, 12:11
It had the opposite effect on me.
In part because it highlighted how difficult racing/overtaking was going to be & it also took away some of the usual excitement & anticipation I have going into the start as we had already had a full build-up & race start the day before.
Usually i’m super hyped for the start of the race & as the cars are lining up on on the grid my heart rate is going up as the anticipation builds. I had that on Saturday but not on Sunday because again we’d already seen a full race build-up & start & it just for me took away from the GP rather than added to.
Lopes da Silva
21st July 2021, 12:30
Yet, you got high drama in Sunday’s 1st lap, not on Saturday’s.
Although you’re right, in most sense. F1 killed the TV show of one lap qualifying in 2003 because it was boring. We’re supposed to get drama and excitement highs, not to watch drivers battling with their cars and with each other.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:30
Yes, but we got the drama despite rather than because of the sprint race. Without the sprint race, the cars would most likely still have collided at that corner, perhaps the othe way round.
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
21st July 2021, 8:37
The Silverstone sprint race was a disaster in my opinion. It devalued the GP and it was quite frankly a bit boring. I hope the following sprint races are better, but I just think they are a bad solution to a genuine opportunity.
I say get the F1 drivers to earn there corn. Every race weekend a spec car should also be raced. Something like a BMW procar or a touring car, anything really. Changing for each event.
Something like:
Friday – Spec car practice + qualy, FP1, spec car race, FP2
Saturday Spec car qualy , FP3, Spec car race, F1 Qualy
Sunday Spec car race, F1 race
F1 drivers in equal cars!
Spec cars would be a separate championship
I’d love that, better than F1 sprint races.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2021, 9:13
Agree with that, and in general we’re half and half I think, based on the poll: half liked it or more, half hated it or similar.
tielemst
21st July 2021, 10:02
That’s a better idea! it also gives drivers the opportunity to have more contact in the race to get a bit of testosterone out of the way come Sunday.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
21st July 2021, 8:59
Oh dear. This was exactly what I feared might happen. If ten or even fifteen (I assume this is what he meant by a third – not 8.33) points were awarded to the winner of the sprint race, how could that possibly not devalue the Grand Prix. For fifteen, two sprint race wins would be better than an actual Grand Prix win!
I will admit I actually quite enjoyed the Silverstone sprint race, but overall it lessened the excitement of the weekend, and the reason it was a good race was nothing to do with the fact that it was short, but instead down to the fact that the first 17 laps at Silverstone are always going to be exciting, as it is the greatest track in the world.
The only hope now is for the other two sprint races to be total processions, but even if that happens, Brawn will still find a way to consider a success and award fifteen points for winning that race. Please get rid of these sprint races because they will ruin the championship and devalue the Grand Prix. Sprint races exist in so many other championships, like the BTCC and Formula 2: please leave Formula 1 as it is.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2021, 9:14
I think it should give 8 points or so, because 1\3 duration compared to the race. The current 3 points are a joke to the sprint race winner, and 15 would be too many, unless they increase the duration to 60% of the real race.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:29
@f1frog I assume it would be 8 points to the winner, erring on the side of devaluing the sprint.
davidhunter13 (@davidhunter13)
21st July 2021, 15:49
It bemuses a little when people say it devalues the GP. If it awards appropriate points for the distance then I don’t see how that can be. It’s still a race, still a challenge and you still need pole to maximise your chance of winning g those points. It looks like Formula One to me, and the sprint plays it’s part in carving out a narrative for the weekend and plays a part of that three day story now. I rather like that. The race on Sunday get no different to me, I can’t fathom how the sprint detracts from it. We got more racing, not less.
Robbie (@robbie)
22nd July 2021, 17:48
@davidhunter13 Agree completely. I have not understood the ‘devalues the GP’ argument either.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st July 2021, 8:59
Top five (5-4-3-2-1), top six (6-5-4-3-2-1), or top eight (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1)
Additionally, do both practice sessions on Friday with QLF and Sprint on Saturday so that the latter practice wouldn’t be a waste of time.
Simon
21st July 2021, 9:14
I agree that it makes sense to have FP2 before the qualifying or sprint, but they want to have more meaningful action for the fans on the Friday.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
21st July 2021, 9:29
@jerejj I like your idea for scheduling.
I understand that they want to have a ‘feature’ every day, but in the long term – after the novelty has worn off – I would not be surprised if Friday attendances were similar to normal levels. Trying to get people to attend for three days is still a big ask even for reasonably keen fans.
With your idea the two FP sessions on one day is still an appeal to the core fans. One whole day to watch the development and set up changes over the two sessions…… Than BAM!!! A rather Mega day of qualifying and sprint race. Then on to the main event on the Sunday. Yeah. I like it.
Simon
21st July 2021, 9:19
I don’t have much of a problem with the sprint race, but I think it should be fully independent from the qualifying and GP race. The order can be decided by the championshiop order, and precede the main qualifying (format as before) and race. So perhaps the sprint can be on the Friday, and be a taster for the rest of the weekend.
Additionally, the main race is the main event, and is more than 3 times more important than the sprint, no matter the number of laps. I don’t think increasing the points is too necessary, but 5, 3, 1 I think it acceptable if they insist on it.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
21st July 2021, 9:44
I didn’t have a problem with the Spring Qualy, but still think they could have used one of Bernie’s old ideas and given them medals for the top three rather than tainting the championship with points not eared in an F1 race.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
21st July 2021, 9:44
or even Sprint Qualy !
tielemst
21st July 2021, 10:00
No. Just no. It was a way to get more excitement out of qualifying, not as a part of the championship. More points = more risk, therefore more retirements. That will mean the unlucky ones in Sprint will start at the back of the grid on Sunday. That will devalue the GP, and will mean Liberty will have to ‘fix’ that problem too.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:27
@tielemst Or it means less risk, because even with proportional points it isn’t worth sacrificing optimal start position, and it’s much easier to game that in a sprint than a simultaneous-lap-based qualifying system.
tielemst
21st July 2021, 15:04
I think we saw that this time. Two laps of racing, and 15 laps of getting to the finish line in one piece.
Aleš Norský
21st July 2021, 10:11
#SpritQualifying explained.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1350229595336726/posts/1455467464812938/
f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
21st July 2021, 10:14
how about give pole to the winner of friday qualifying, then saturday sprint RACE winner more points.
Sprint qualifying might as well be part of the grand prix since its just a 24h red flag until the sunday race.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
21st July 2021, 10:25
So the aim is to change the F1 format over the next season or two to bring in the same or a similar format to that of Supercar racing.
They do not have a Friday session but two 30 min practice sessions on Saturday then a “sprint” race.
On Sunday they have a practice then the ‘main’ in the afternoon.
Each race is a stand alone event there is no difference in importance as the points awarded are the same.
Next year Liberty will introduce a semi spec chassis with strict limitations on any improvements. I think it likely a spec PU is in the works for 2025 with two suppliers Ferrari with RB in partnership with someone being the other supplier. I don’t think Merc and Renault are going to hang around.
WimB
21st July 2021, 18:06
I hope your predictions don’t turn out to be true, or F1 will become more like Indycar and less like … well, F1. In my opinion, F1 isn’t supposed to be a spec series. It’s supposed to be manufacterers egging each other on to develop better machinery driven by the best drivers in the world. I’m equally interested in the driver’s side and in the technical side (to see which innovations and solutions the engineers come up with).
Anyone clamouring for more spec so that it’s purely a driver’s championship, is free to watch a spec series of his or her choosing, as far as I’m concerned. But please don’t dumb down the technical circus of marvels that is/should be F1.
Justin (@kogll)
21st July 2021, 10:41
how about awarding pole to the person who scores the most ‘tokens’ over the quali session (normal 3 round quali) and the sprint race which is reversed. Tokens would be awarded based on finishing position in each of the quali and reverse sprint race from 1st to last. Who ever has the most tokens starts the race on sunday from pole.
I enjoyed the sprint race but feel it diluted the efforts in quali on the fri and people had more to lose then gain in the sprint race. Combining the 2 would reward the efforts more evenly and a reverse grid would make the sprint race even more exciting. Cream would still raise to the top and it would be awesome seeing it happen in the sprint race!!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
21st July 2021, 10:42
This Sprint Qualifying Race is really part of the Race because the order determined by the Sprint Qualifying Race continues on to become the Race. I don’t see a need to increase the points or the places that earn points in the SQR, but I think it would be better if those who finished the Race outside the Top Ten were awarded partial points for where they finished.
Gubstar (@gubstar)
21st July 2021, 10:46
Yeah great, lets water down the value of the Grands prix even more by offering more points on the Saturday. Gees, the americanization of the sport holds no bounds. Keep all these ridiculous gimmicks coming Liberty, I guess you are not learning from how Nascar committed suicide. The red flag for me was Ross Brawns interview on Sky on Saturday when his first comment was to make it clear to the interviewer that we should give the sprint race a chance but it was definitely NOT Ross’s idea.
petebaldwin (@)
21st July 2021, 10:57
“I give it a vote of success and certainly a good platform for something in the future.”
Well who would have guessed he’d say that!?
tielemst
21st July 2021, 11:22
Yep, total shocker :-)
Kribana (@krichelle)
21st July 2021, 11:09
The sprint qualifying was not bad nor great. At least we did not have the Q2 tyre rule. However, please no more points for that event. We already have a topsy turvy record in F1 because of that with Verstappen scoring points without completing a Grand Prix/race event. The 3,2,1 is already decent enough.
pSynrg (@psynrg)
21st July 2021, 11:21
Just stop this nonsense already, please…
Calum
21st July 2021, 11:54
Brawn: “What we don’t want is to change the format of the weekend, that means the fans have to readjust to it”
Don’t get this quote. Are the fans really seen as so dumb or lacking critical thought that they can’t cope with a change to the sprint race format in the same season? I would think anyone in that position wouldn’t remember the format by Monza anyway, so moot!
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:25
@Calum Simply because fans can adjust to multiple changes to format in a season does not mean the average fan likes it. Some fans find it achievable but tedious/annoying/otherwise not fun.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
21st July 2021, 12:01
Brawn goes on about how there was exciting racing because drivers can’t help themselves, Yet in reality outside of the 2 McLaren’s getting past the much slower Alonso who was only where he was after a great start & Sainz having to recover from been tapped off track everyone else was holding position & things did stay pretty static.
Having seen the weekend format & sprint in action I don’t think the format really added anything & I think the sprint took away & to an extent devalued both qualifying & the Sunday GP. I still see far more negatives than positives & it’s a format I would honestly not enjoy seeing introduced more often.
More points would simply devalue the GP a bit more & introduce the risk of championships not only been decided a bit earlier (Especially in years of domination) but also be decided on a Saturday which would again devalue the GP.
David BR (@david-br)
21st July 2021, 18:15
@stefmeister All perfectly put. It was interesting as the first such race, but was kind of static, aside from the start and a few out of position drivers, it certainly devalued the Friday qualifying, and it took away some of the freshness from the actual GP. In some senses it led to the heavy first lap racing as both Verstappen and Hamilton learnt from the sprint race that being ahead after lap one was crucial (in terms of their own battle). Whether that was good or bad is another question. About the points, agree totally. I don’t see how this can possibly have any other effect than increasing the points for the one or two dominant teams at the cost of everyone else and really just seems like a ‘bonus scoop’ of points for whoever is ahead at these specific GPs.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
21st July 2021, 12:19
So they just want to devalue the main race even further.
This whole gimmick race format was awful from start to finish. Less practice for fans to watch the cars, Qualifying on Friday when less people can watch & with no pole position which saps the excitement/tension out of it, A meaningless practice session on Saturday with a completely pointless gimmick race on Saturday that devalued the main event on Sunday.
The only change I would make to this gimmick format is to throw it in the bin!
Also they are clearly not seeing the feedback they hoped as they had a poll up on the F1 fan site which started out very mixed but started to turn less in favour of the ‘sprint’ (The 2 didn’t like options overtook the did like options last I checked) so that poll has now been mysteriously taken down.
anon
21st July 2021, 12:56
@roger-ayles just wondering, do you have a source confirming that Liberty Media has taken down the poll on the sprint qualifying and, if so, what the figures were at the time that it was taken down?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was taken down – I’d been predicting that would happen if the figures weren’t what Liberty wanted, since that’s exactly what they did with the poll they ran on reverse races – but wouldn’t mind knowing more about what is supposed to have happened.
Also, if this is going on, shouldn’t this site be doing more to question Liberty Media about why negative feedback is being hidden away, particularly when Brawn has previously insisted that they would listen to feedback from the fans irrespective of it being positive or negative? Maybe Dieter could raise this topic during the Q&A sessions at the next race.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
21st July 2021, 13:23
@anon
Just went to the F1 fan site the only survey I could find on the sprint race was a few questions tagged onto the of the British GP survey. It certainly isn’t in a prominent position nor is there any indication of where it may be.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
22nd July 2021, 2:05
I couldn’t find it either so not sure where its gone or why.
There were some questions tacked on to the British GP survey – I was a bit vexed about whether or not to answer given that the first question was “did you watch” – I’m hoping that answering that “Yes” doesn’t get interpreted as “he watched it so it was great for viewership”
They at least asked some questions about whether it was good or bad so I’m hoping that they’ll look at all the answers in context (e.g. he watched it and hated it or he didn’t watch it and loved it should carry different weight) but to be honest I don’t have a lot of confidence in their “surveys”
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:24
@roger-ayles There was a sprint qualifying focus group yesterday. If that was negative (and I don’t know, because although I know someone who was in the focus group, they also did not wish to divulge any secrets about what happened there), then that might also have prompted the dropping of the poll.
Plossl (@)
21st July 2021, 12:45
The only thing apart from the gimmickyness (couldn’t think of a better word so just came up with one) that’s been discussed to death, is that I found myself just stuck indoors during the 3 days, in future will watch quali (the real one) listen to the sprint quali/race/insert sponser here on the radio while out an about, and of course watch the real race, FP1 maybe keep an eye/ear on and you couldn’t pay me enough to go though the borefest that was FP2 again.
Dex
21st July 2021, 12:55
If we have spring races, I demand sprint qualifying too for the next season. In the following seasons please and pre-qualifying, pre-sprint qualifying, pre-sprint races and reversed grid and double reversed grid races before the main event. Speaking of the main event, maybe we should do something about those races. For so many decades we have similar concept. For example, why the most points always go to whomever finishes first? So predictable. If we’re to have 40 races a year after adding all of the OPEC members etc. we need more fresh ideas. We literally need a new formula.
WimB
21st July 2021, 18:11
I know, instead of F1 and because Formula E is already taken, let’s choose a new name that also divulges Liberty’s main motiviation: F€.
Rick Howell
21st July 2021, 13:23
Please just stop.
Kevin (@lothe)
21st July 2021, 13:45
Woah, sir, woah. I believe you mean we had some exciting SPRINTING, right?
More seriously, I do think the Sprint session affected the Grand Prix in one important way: it showed the pace. I think that without the Sprint, the race we saw on Sunday would have been a longer version of the one that, in the event, we saw on Saturday: Verstappen would have driven off into the distance, with Hamilton struggling in vain to catch up. Instead, Hamilton knew from the Sprint that Verstappen was much quicker. As I recall, one of the Sky commentators mentioned in passing that he’d added some front wing in hopes of keeping up through the twisty sections of the track, and I think if Hamilton hadn’t seen how devastating Verstappen’s advantage was on Saturday, we wouldn’t have seen the hammer-and-tongs battle for the lead that we did at the beginning of the GP. (Abstaining, for the moment, from any comment on the outcome of that battle, it was a damned exciting half a lap.)
If anything, this actually raises a question in my mind: at future Sprint events, will teams, or at least the leading teams, feel they need to sandbag a bit? If Verstappen had run a little bit slower on Saturday, made it look like his pace wasn’t quite so crushing, might Hamilton have felt he’d have a chance from second and not contested the lead so hard on Sunday? Most of the midfield is probably too tight to play these kinds of games, but I do wonder about it up at the front.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:22
@lothe At most tracks, the benefit of being on the clean side of the grid is higher than the benefit of being one place up the grid. Which means half the grid has incentive to yield their position, even if it costs a proportional amount of points. I’m a little surprised it didn’t start happening already, except apparently Silverstone’s “dirty side” is so clean that there were advantages to both sides of the grid (in different respects of startline performance).
Shimks (@shimks)
21st July 2021, 13:54
I thoroughly enjoyed the sprint race. I thought it worked well. But after seeing it I was much less excited about Sunday’s race and I found it far too long and pretty boring after the start. Sunday is about nursing tyres and bringing down fuel loads and that is so boring. The sprint race was all-out attack. Look at Alonso go! It was great.
Señor Sjon
21st July 2021, 14:04
I disliked it. The timing of the weekend was atrocious.
Friday: 19.00 family time, not F1 time. Qualy felt very hollow, enhanced by parc ferme at the end of FP1.
Saturday. 17.30 sprint race. Like… dinnertime here? Why!? Watched it while cooking on a phone, but felt very unsatisfying.
Sunday: 16.00 race, mandatory red flag and the race wasn’t over until 18.00. Again, messing up the start of the evening.
If we get this for half the races next year, I doubt I’ll hang onto F1. I missed the tension of regular qualifying and the buildup of the weekend. It was disturbed and not in a good way
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
21st July 2021, 14:19
More points is simply going to make the other aspects of the weekend even less valuable, while most likely still keeping the incentive for outright ceding an even-numbered position (which I’m not convinced would be resolved even with proportional points, even at the sharp end of the grid). It already removed most of the point of qualifying and appears to have negatively influenced the race.
Dan Rooke (@geekzilla9000)
21st July 2021, 15:50
I enjoyed watching the Sprint*, it was much better than I thought. But it seemed to make a bit of a mockery of the Friday Qualifying which lost any intensity as you knew it wasn’t “real” pole position. Some teams/drivers tend to perform different in races than in qualify (George being the obvious example) so the trend with Sprints* may likely be that drivers start the proper race in a more natural racing position as they’ve already dropped back or gone forward, so that race drama already happens before Sunday.
It feels like the race weekend was fractured and the Sprint* was there purely for show with no real point. I completely get that the point of it was to be a show and it wasn’t introduced for sporting reasons. I think it has a place but I don’t know what it is. Without awarding points it seems pointless (both literally and categorically) – but awarding points erodes the impact of the main race (it stops becoming the event where championships are won). And if one team starts to dominate then it looks like the drivers who were going to score the most points, will score a few more on top.
Maybe it could replace a normal qualy. But that’s unlikely because how would you determine the Sprint* starting grid? Perhaps by championship position – but that’s not easy for the first race of a season! Also, the FIA/Liberty want this as an addition to the 2 main events (Quali and Race) to generate another chunk of viewership – so to replace qualy with a Sprint* wouldn’t achieve that.
The main issues I see are that it makes Quali and the actual race seem less significant. And that it makes a race weekend confusing when different races in the season have different formats and different ways of scoring championship points. The Sprint* was interesting but others may just be a procession. Had this been a procession then I doubt there’d be as much enthusiasm for it.
I don’t have the solution, but it’s not my job to. Like I say, I enjoyed the Sprint* as a self contained event but my personal preference is to not have it unless it occurs for all race weekends and in a way which compliments the race, not cheapen or the qualifying session. I also think that changes should be made with the sport as a priority, and not to add artificial elements which make it less sporting (like Fanboost, etc).
*Saturday RACE!!!! Drivers have the qualify for it. It has a lights-out start, it ends with a chequered flag, drivers drive fast and score points – it is, without any question – a RACE!!!!
WimB
21st July 2021, 18:27
The main problem of F1 races being boring is not that we don’t have enough standing starts followed by frantic first laps, it’s because the cars can’t follow each other closely and because the made-to-degrade tyres lead to tyre management that discourages close racing. Next year’s radical new car rules should solve the problem of following cars. The made-to-degrade tyres are not a natural evolution of tyre technology, they were a (in my opinion) knee-jerk reaction to one grand prix that was interesting because of the tyres. So once the following cars problem is out of the way, then I whole-heartedly hope Liberty will drop their gimmicks for artificially livening up the show = DRS + made-to-degrade tyres. That also means we don’t need an extra standing start to give us a couple of lively laps.
So my hope/advice/prayer/ … = stop adding more gimmicks and first see if next year the fundamental problem has been fixed.
And if you want more standing starts, just let Liberty have its way with the ever increasing number of races per season.
Mike Williams (@gaima)
21st July 2021, 19:37
If they’re going to give more points for Sprint Qualifying, it would seem logical to give more points further down the order too.
If you’re going to give more points further down the order how about adding some serious spice? Points down to 5th, 6th, or whatever, then reverse those places for the Grand Prix.
2022 is probably the earliest something like this should be tried though, 2021 F1 cars can’t sprint race.
joshj81f1
22nd July 2021, 1:50
I didn’t mind the Sprint…but I think it can be tweaked.
The sprint was boring after about 7 or so laps…the cars were settled in their place. I thought the distance should be shorten to 9 laps (carry whatever that percentage is to the other tracks).
Honestly, if they do this weekend format, P1, Q, P2, Sprint, they should remove Parc ferme. Or maybe Parc Ferme the cars after Q2 for the race only. Then allow for a sprint setup on Saturday to get the outright most in the cars. Sunday, they revert back to Q2 parc.
Ohm
22nd July 2021, 4:06
Might just be me but I’d rather they go the other way and not give any points! Evidently as we saw last Saturday, drivers are drivers and they will still go for it. Without points, there’ll be no championships decided on a Saturday.
Ldom (@ldom)
23rd July 2021, 9:51
Maybe the sprint race should be 2 laps with only points to the winner (like 10 points). That would make it lively.