Rate the Race: 2023 Qatar Grand Prix sprint race

36 comments on “Rate the Race: 2023 Qatar Grand Prix sprint race”

1. 

   S
   7th October 2023, 19:14

   7.
   Was pretty good.
2. 

   kuvemar
   7th October 2023, 19:14

   Well, the haters can finally say goodbye to the idea that sprints aren’t here to stay. This one surely has sealed the deal for the future.

   Best race of the season so far. 8/10.
3. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   7th October 2023, 19:16

   Hate the sprints but that was good racing. Every time they switched the DRS on it got worse, but because we had so many restarts, they battled properly for a long while.

   Sad Piastri’s first “win” isn’t a real win. I hope they get rid of this idea because it devalues everything. But hey… that’s how it goes.
   1. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      7th October 2023, 19:33

      Yeah, we did get some decent racing in there, but it does not change my overall meh feeling towards the sprint thing.

      I guess the best part of it is that at least Pirelli gets a decent amount of tyre running to analyse to make sure that the race tomorrow won’t be a complete mess?
      1. 

         PeterG
         7th October 2023, 19:39

         @bascb They still won’t have got as much running as they would have on a proper weekend with 3 hours of practice.

         On a normal weekend they would have caught the problem in FP1, Made changes in FP2 & validated them by the end of FP3 meaning all issues should have been sorted or plans put in place to limit them before we got to qualifying.

         On these sprint gimmick weekends to still see concern going into a race just highlights why having so little practice is a bad idea and why the often proposed 2 day weekends with just 1 practice session should be a non starter.
4. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   7th October 2023, 19:16

   A dramatic & exciting sprint even if not for all right reasons.
5. 

   David BR (@david-br)
   7th October 2023, 19:19

   9. Can’t deny that was entertaining. Excellent from Piastri, consistently excellent from Verstappen. Some excellent battles.
   And Perez, predictably, didn’t finish the race. Let’s hope next year there’s a serious challenge for the title.
6. 

   Niefer (@niefer)
   7th October 2023, 19:20

   👏️👏️👏️👏️
   Yay, so much for the glory of the show!
   A shallow maiden win for a potential titan, a shallow crowning for a potential GOAT, delonging SCs, hogwash policy of limits….
   Bravo.
   1. 

      Ferdinand
      8th October 2023, 9:39

      This! Absolute disgrace of an event. The scale lack a zero score.
7. 

   Lyndamarks
   7th October 2023, 19:24

   A first win that isn’t really a first win that nobody will remember in a meaningless non-race because they don’t call it a race.

   Piastri was simply leading when the pointless 24 hour red flag was thrown.

   #GetLibertyOut
   #MakeF1ASportAgain!
   #NoToShowOverSport!
   #NoToSillySprints
   #NoGimmicks
8. 

   f12007v (@f1fan-2000)
   7th October 2023, 19:30

   Piastri got more sprint wins than sir lewis hamilton!
9. 

   Doggy
   7th October 2023, 19:34

   Leaving out Whether Sprint races should be in or out of the regular F1 campaign, we all can agree that all Sprint this season have provided us with great races.
   1. 

      LyndaMarks
      7th October 2023, 19:35

      No they haven’t!
10. 

    PeterG
    7th October 2023, 19:34

    Awful.

    A hollow first win because it won’t be classified as a real win, He won’t stand on the podium and get the winners trophy or get to spray the champagne or get all the accolades and celebrations that a race winner normally does.

    Same for Max. He’s won the championship in a sprint that fewer people will watch where he doesn’t get any of the fanfare or glory he would if this was the GP.

    These sprints always feel utterly irrelevant and are nothing but a forgettable footnote. They are ‘races’ with no real purpose that feature nothing to make them feel worthwhile.

    You just have to look at how much quieter things are on sites like this, on the social media platforms and things like Reddit to see that hardly anybody really cares about these sprints so therefore doesn’t bother with them.
    The extra engagement the sprints were supposed to be bringing is quite obviously not there as just look at how less engaged the F1 fanbase seems to be on these sprint gimmick weekends!
    1. 

       Edvaldo
       7th October 2023, 19:43

       Exactly. It’s its own thing into the weekend, and given that it happens only a few times a year for just 3 years now, it will never be relevant, just statistics.

       Piastri should be satisfied that he led the sprint sessions and that’s it. It wasn’t a pole and it wasn’t a win, so i don’t understand why some people are finding it strange that he wasn’t overly excited about it. Why should he?
    2. 

       Ferdinand
       8th October 2023, 9:41

       +1 but I am sure we will see more of them under Liberty ownership.
11. 

    Edvaldo
    7th October 2023, 19:36

    So, how many wins does Piastri have?

    Man, i HATE Sprints. When things start to get interesting, they’re finished.
12. 

    Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    7th October 2023, 19:44

    I’m going to say something positive for a change……. Sit down……The new format sprint is a lot better. Making it a separate event entirely from the Sunday is a huge improvement. The old one was so dull it was like an extended long race that got red flagged on a Sat then carried on Sunday. Now we have an event that doesn’t carry over, drivers can go for it in isolation and it added a lot of thrills.

    I’m still too old an miserable to be converted but I have to admit I was entertained on a Sat evening and that can’t be a bad thing.
    1. 

       osnola
       7th October 2023, 20:12

       Except for the sprint shootout not much has changed in the sprintrace. Certainly not in the sprintrace itself. So nice to see your happy but for the wrong reasons
       1. 

          Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
          7th October 2023, 20:53

          I’d be much happier if it all went away but the sprint race not being “qualifying” anymore is a big improvement for me personally. Being a standalone isolated event helps.
    2. 

       Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
       7th October 2023, 20:50

       @rdotquestionmark Nice that at least someone can look at it objectively and say that they enjoyed the race, rather than most commenters and a lot of voters who respond only based on their hatred of sprint races. I thought it was an enjoyable race, with the different tyre strategies and lots of good action. DRS was too powerful though which spoiled it a bit. Could have had the soft runners actually defend for the last few laps rather than getting mugged down the straight with easy passes.
       1. 

          Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
          7th October 2023, 20:55

          Agree 100% @keithedin especially on DRS. Like I said at the end of the day it entertained my Sat evening and the new format means tomorrow is a new day completely.
       2. 

          Ferdinand
          8th October 2023, 9:47

          On the contrary, I felt it painfully showed the extent of influence the tires have on the car performance. Makes it a gimmick and greatly distorts the visibility on car and driver performance. You literally have no idea what you are watching and any advantage a driver seems to have is not related to their performance. Sprints, DRS, tires.. all elements to enhance the show rather than the achievements.
    3. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       8th October 2023, 5:03

       Agree, they seem to be taking more risks in the sprint races now that they have nothing to lose like their grid spot on the main race, a good change indeed to make these sprints sort of standalone.

       And drivers who have a bad qualifying for the main race and will have a difficult sunday can still get it right on saturday and shine in the sprint and viceversa, think about piastri in spa or mclaren here, they will start the race much further back than they would have if not for some tiny track limit infringiments, but they at least got a front row lockout for the sprint and actually ended up getting a win there.
    4. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       8th October 2023, 5:04

       Also in terms of trying to catch up to aston martin, having 2 cars so far ahead in the sprint is useful.
13. 

    AlexS
    7th October 2023, 19:56

    Congrats to Piastri, horrible idea.
14. 

    baasbas
    7th October 2023, 20:09

    Mixed feelings.. yes, action, the kind Liberty likes..
    But the action was because of tire gamblers and an overpowered DRS.
    So short but still an avalanche of track limit infringements.

    And do we get to rate the TV director as well here?
15. 

    hahostolze (@hahostolze)
    7th October 2023, 20:25

    Ruined by unnecessary and unnecessarily cautious SCs. Real shame.
16. 

    MadMax (@madmax)
    7th October 2023, 20:27

    Nice action due to mixed tire strats. And no lame RBR cruise to victory. So great racing…
17. 

    Paul
    7th October 2023, 21:55

    The sprint race was still longer than 1991 Australia (15 laps) or 2021 Belgium (1 lap)!
18. 

    GmP (@gmp)
    8th October 2023, 1:04

    Solid 8, very enjoyable race.

    And very good for Piastri to get his first F1 win. Lando will have to step up. He will undoubted be the team leader asked on his experience, but Oscar is showing some great maturity already.

    Btw: a complete F1 season nowadays consists of a series of (long) races and a (smaller) number of (shorter) sprints, all part of the same F1 champion ships. And thus it counts as an F1 win. Whether “real” fans like it or not.
19. 

    EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
    8th October 2023, 2:16

    Please please please offer an option for the abstainers and anti-sprint contingent. There is a difference between rating the sprint race as a genuine 1 because it was a very poor sprint race, and rating it a 1 because you wouldn’t rate it higher even if the 20 best racers of all time were cloned and took over the seats for the event.
    1. 

       Esploratore (@esploratore1)
       8th October 2023, 5:00

       True, it’s a high amount of votes clearly against the sprint, but looks like almost 70% liked it enough to give 7 or more, that’s quite a bit:
       10 (3%)
       9 (19%)
       8 (31%)
       7 (16%)
       6 (5%)
       3 (3%)
       2 (5%)
       1 (19%)
       Total Voters: 64

       I went for 8, would’ve been 8,5 if there had been half marks, was a very exciting one with plenty of battles and overtakes, with several laps without drs and a mclaren holding off the leading red bull to win is always interesting, I was already quite confident as soon as the race restarted and piastri only lost 3 tenths in the first lap that he was likely gonna be able to hold on to the win.

       I wouldn’t be surprised if the race comes out as less fun than this sprint, as it’s gonna be hard to beat.
    2. 

       baasbas
       8th October 2023, 8:05

       @cairnsfella
       I’m surprised no one pointed at the article title yet to say but it’s not a race!
    3. 

       S
       8th October 2023, 9:19

       You can abstain simply by not voting….

       I personally like the definition of abstain in this context:
       verb – restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something.
       That sound exactly like what many ‘real’ F1 fans do in regard to the sprints.

       Anyway – if you watched it and want to vote something – then just be honest and objective. If the sprint was enjoyable regardless of whether you approve of the format, then rate it as such. Nobody will think less of you.
20. 

    Ferdinand
    8th October 2023, 9:50

    The scale doesn’t provide the option to rate it a zero. Waste of time and huge insult to Piastri and Max. Glad to read up here some can enjoy it (albeit exactly what Liberty was aiming for), which makes it, no.. still zero.

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