Max Verstappen’s latest sprint race victory hasn’t changed his dislike of the format, which he believes takes away the “magic” of a grand prix weekend.
However Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who followed the Red Bull in second and third respectively, said there are upsides to the format which remains divisive in its third year.Verstappen said Saturday’s track sessions felt flat after the excitement of qualifying for the grand prix on Friday. “I don’t really get excited by it,” he said. “I just feel like once you’ve completed qualifying, you’re a bit lost.”
Formula 1 has changed its sprint format each year since it was introduced in 2021. This year drivers have a separate second qualifying session earlier on Saturday before the sprint race.
“I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great,” said Verstappen, who won today’s sprint race from pole position. “This morning, you put it on P1, but I’m like, this is Saturday, it’s not many points anyway for the race.”
He also believes the sprint race detracts from the grand prix. “Now we’ve done this race, everyone more or less knows what’s going to happen tomorrow between all the cars in terms of pace. So it takes a bit of the excitement away from it.
“If you wouldn’t have done today and we only had that qualifying that we had yesterday, you don’t really know what’s going to happen before the race so everyone is very excited turning on the TV because you don’t know, and also we didn’t know. Now we know a little bit.”
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“If I would be a fan I would just be disappointed because you more or less know the picture, if nothing crazy happens you know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he added. “So it takes away that magic of waking up on a Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon and you turn on the TV and you have qualifying but you’re not sure which car is going to be quickest, in most of the years. It takes that magic away, I find.”
However Hamilton, who suggested Verstappen sounded “bored” by his comfortable win in today’s race, said there is “a slightly different perspective when you’re chasing.”
“For us, it’s fun,” said the Mercedes driver. “For me, it’s fun. I like having the extra opportunity to get out there and try to squeeze everything every little bit more out of the package that we have.
“Can it be better? I’m sure we can learn. I think it’s been exciting for people. I personally quite like the sprint weekends, particularly a Friday I really like where you only have one practice session and then you’re straight into quali.”
Leclerc believes the success of individual sprint races comes down to whether drivers choose a mix of different tyres for them.
“In Qatar it was very exciting the sprint race because we had two compounds that were very different, one that was extremely good in the first six, seven laps and yeah, and then had a lot of degradation and the other that was really good towards the end of the race and that made the sprint race really exciting.
“Otherwise we’ve got races like today where everybody apart from Carlos [Sainz Jnr] unfortunately, uses the medium and then it’s a bit of a bit of a train.”
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Tristan (@skipgamer)
22nd October 2023, 1:07
It’s a double edged sword right, you hear the crowd and see them cheering on TV over the second qually and the sprint and it just makes sense. They’d never be invested in a practice session like that. In terms of the goal of the sprint races, that is to add value to the weekend, there can be no doubt that sprint weekends are a win.
I think this is one of the most interesting developments of F1… Sure it appeals to the lowest common denominator, but if you’re developing a global franchise it makes sense that’s what should be done.
With great respect I hope Max does step down, but goes to another racing series… F1 isn’t the end-all be-all, or at least it shouldn’t be. It would really be a great opportunity to expose people to that way of thinking. There’s at least a few problematic ideologies that sprint races represent.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
22nd October 2023, 2:52
@skipgamer Thing is when it comes to sprint weekends is that the data is showing that there is less fan engagement on sprint weekends when compared to a standard weekend.
It is looking like a majority of fans who say they don’t like the format and therefore won’t watch it are actually doing that and it hasn’t been picking up more casual fans as was hoped.
So the end result has ended up been that TV ratings on a Saturday for sprint weekends are down compared to the standard format.
I don’t have actual numbers but i was told not that long ago that ratings for Friday qualifying have been consistently lower than qualifying in its normal Saturday afternoon slot. Saturday sprint qualifying has been significantly lower with the sprint race itself been wel below what qualifying would normally get on a Saturday afternoon. The Sunday GP is within a similar range to what it gets on a standard weekend.
And something been discussed in the paddock this weekend is comments from the COTA track owners regarding how they have seen no benefit from this been a sprint weekend with Friday/Saturday attendance been down on past years despite Sunday attendance been up. They have even said the lack of any benefits mean they won’t push to get the sprint format in future.
Tristan
22nd October 2023, 3:34
That’s a surprise. Maybe the increased number of US races is influencing the CotA comments. A few too many variables there, but the general viewership being down for sprints is interesting news for sure…
S
22nd October 2023, 6:32
I find that assertion quite hard to believe. Liberty’s unrelenting push for increased viewing figures and marketing appeal tells the ultimate story. There are more sprints now than previous seasons, and if ‘the data’ wasn’t supporting more sprints, there wouldn’t be more sprints.
But Sunday hasn’t happened yet…..
MichaelN
22nd October 2023, 12:05
That assumes ‘the data’ is entirely measurable, which has always been a tall order with so many different channels that show and report on F1. They have to come up with all kinds of metrics to give a picture, and somehow end up with hundreds of millions of viewers while most Highlight videos on free and global YouTube struggle to get above six million this year.
It’s easier to measure track attendance, and perhaps that’s where the real wins are. If the tracks can sell more full weekend tickets, that is a plus for them – and a good reason for F1 to increase the hosting fee as well.
Metallion (@metallion)
22nd October 2023, 6:45
This describes my relationship with sprint weekends perfectly. I have no interest in watching the sprint races or sprint qualifying and as the qualifying for the Sunday race is usually moved to a different time slot than on a regular weekend I usually end up missing that too.
So instead of watching qualifying and the race as I would during a normal race weekend I usually end up watching only the Sunday race during a sprint weekend.
If it matters, I’ve been watching F1 for 25 years and hardly missed a race or qualifying during this time. Until now.
SteveR (@stever)
22nd October 2023, 1:25
Yep.
dot_com (@dot_com)
22nd October 2023, 1:49
Yep.
Mr_NovemberHotel (@nicharvs)
22nd October 2023, 1:59
Yep. Because it’s not like every race this year we’ve known how the races were likely to turn out before they were run. It’s been such a “magic” season.
Gusm.ai
22nd October 2023, 2:15
One major problem is that sprints show on race conditions how bad/good tyres are.
For instance, as per SAI perfomance, softs are barely good for half dozen laps.
I can only imagine that teams somehow know that.
But seeing that on the sprints points to fewer tyre strategies on sunday.
It is not necessarily “magic” lost, but the expectation about alternative strategies.
AlexS
22nd October 2023, 3:47
Amen
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
22nd October 2023, 4:41
Didn’t take long for the ” sprint event ” to evolve to a “sprint race” to a “Grand Prix”, albeit a ” lesser” one.
This from a site that should know better,
MadMax (@madmax)
22nd October 2023, 6:41
The sprint before was great. People tend to forget quickly.
Coventry Climax
22nd October 2023, 12:03
Formula 1 before was great. People tend to forget quickly.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
22nd October 2023, 8:59
Put ’em in MX-5s… bit of bump-drafting, three-wide fun. Take their radios away though, so they don’t start whining about each other’s track limits and managing the damn tyres.
SteveP
22nd October 2023, 9:12
Before what? Forget what?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
22nd October 2023, 9:27
I missed the sprint yesterday and I didn’t care. And I know what’s going to happen today, and might not even bother to watch.
I don’t see the appeal of two qualifying sessions either, specially now that’s just looking at who went over the white line. It’s just two times the same thing in consecutive sessions, if the weather remains the same it’s just going to be almost exactly the same result. Is that good for a show?
I wished they stopped this BS. But money talks…
Coventry Climax
22nd October 2023, 12:08
Me too. We went out for dinner as I didn’t really care too much about the sprint thingies. Turned out we were back on time to still watch it, but I was happy doing other things and completely forgot. That’s never happened before. And I still don’t mind one bit.
Saw a bit of review and what I take away from that is that it’s ok for some to overtake outside of the limits, where others are punished. That inconsistency is going to take my interest for the real Grand Prix’ away pretty soon too.
Mark Reville (@myrrve)
22nd October 2023, 11:15
The entire (sprint) weekend feels disconnected. If they intend to introduce more over the next seasons then the sprint race itself should be used to determine the final starting grid for the Grand Prix and the traditional one lap qualy should be abandoned completely with one two hour practice session on Friday.