Formula 1 expanded its sprint race format to six rounds this year, the last of which was held a week ago.
While it continues to elicit a mixture of positive and negative responses from drivers and fans alike, the significance of the sprint format to the championship has clearly increased since it was introduced.In 2021 sprint races were worth just 18 points in total. This year, with twice as many sprint races per season and the top eight finishers scoring, sprint races were worth a total of 216 points, with a maximum of 48 on offer for each driver – almost as much as two grands prix.
Sprint races have not yet swung the outcome of a championship. Max Verstappen won the last two titles by margins so comfortable the sprint races made no difference. And even in 2021 when just eight points separated him from Lewis Hamilton at the end of the year, the Red Bull driver’s seven points from the sprint races wasn’t enough to tip the balance.
But what if the sprint races themselves awarded a separate championship? This is one of several concepts F1 is believed to have considered as it tries to weed out the flaws in a format it has wedded itself to.
Unsurprisingly, Verstappen has been greatest beneficiary from the format since its introduction. Out of the 12 sprint races won so far, he has won seven of them:
| Pos. | Driver | All-time sprint race wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 7 |
| 2 | Valtteri Bottas | 2 |
| 3 | George Russell | 1 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | 1 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | 1 |
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Despite that, he is the format’s most vocal critic among F1’s 20 drivers. “I think we should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally,” he remarked recently.
“I always say, ‘why’? Why do we need to try and invent something? I think our product works if you just make sure that the cars are competitive and the rules stay the same for a long time, why are we always inventing new things?
“It almost sounds out of like craziness that ‘oh, we need to come up with something’. Just leave it the same.”
Verstappen pointed out that other globally successful competitions do not tamper with their formats in the way F1 is doing. “In football, they don’t change the rules, or in other sports – [they’ve] been like that for a hundred years,” he said.
“Why do we suddenly need to come up with other things to try and make it entertaining? I think if you have a good race on your hands with cars being close to each other, then you don’t need a sprint format or weekend.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Calls for F1 to make its sprint races separate from the main championship grew after Verstappen clinched the drivers’ championship in a sprint race in Qatar. The grand prix was held a day later in front of a larger crowd (though still a smaller one by F1’s standards).
“It doesn’t mean anything to me, even if you win it,” he said. “It is the same now, you cross the line it’s ‘alright, well tomorrow’s the race, the main one’. That’s how it goes.
“There’s no satisfaction to win a sprint, for me.”
Despite that, for the second year in a row he amassed more points than anyone in sprint races. However there are a few notable differences between a hypothetical ‘2023 sprint race championship’ table and the full standings.
The Mercedes drivers in particular are lower down, the team having admitted it struggles to dial in its problematic W14 in sprint race weekends with only a single practice session. Carlos Sainz Jnr, notwithstanding the fact he is the only non-Red Bull driver to have won a grand prix this year, is three places higher in these standings that the real ones:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
| Pos. | Driver | ‘2023 sprint race championship’ points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 45 |
| 2 | Sergio Perez | 25 |
| 3 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | 22 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | 21 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | 21 |
| 6 | George Russell | 18 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | 17 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | 15 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | 8 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 8 |
| 11 | Lance Stroll | 6 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | 3 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | 3 |
| 14 | Alexander Albon | 2 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | 2 |
Who else would have had something else to boast about if a separate F1 sprint race series existed?
Valtteri Bottas would have been the ‘2021 sprint race champion’, having tied Verstappen on points but won two of the three sprint races. And unlike his Red Bull rival, he is more positive about the format.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 F1 season
- FIA president cleared of alleged interference in two 2023 races
- First week viewing figures for new Drive to Survive season fall again
- Max who? Drive to Survive season six prefers its favourite faces
- RaceFans’ complete 2023 season review
- The F1 drivers who pulled off the 10 biggest charges through the field in 2023
notagrumpyfan
10th November 2023, 7:44
Nothing to add other than that to me the Sprint races this year were amongst the best races we had, be it due to weather, format, and/or limited set-up time.
At least one happy fan.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th November 2023, 9:11
True, in an era where getting wet competitive sessions is rare, simply because of f1’s overcautiousness, sprints give us more chance to get at least a competitive session a weekend than it would’ve been: the only “race” with some wet running in austria and spa was the sprint.
S
10th November 2023, 9:15
I tend to agree. The sprint weekends provide a different dynamic to each of those events to break the pattern and monotony of the usual routine. At the very least, the sprints themselves offered something a little different to the GP’s – and a lot different to meaningless, excessive practice sessions.
For those who say the sprints just take away the interest from the first part of the GP – I’d suggest that is not strictly a negative, but also a positive. Come Sunday, every team now has representative competition data on each other and can adjust their strategy and performance accordingly. It’s an opportunity.
Besides – if the GP is dull after a sprint, it’s simply due to the fact that it would have been dull anyway even without it.
You’ve lost nothing….
Dave
10th November 2023, 9:22
Interesting, as for me the sprint weekends have tended to be the biggest Sunday snoozes
Anuj Chopra
10th November 2023, 8:08
Every team can have only 1 car per sprint race. So we see total 10 cars racing in sprint. That would spice things up and teams have to put better strategy.
F1Statsfan
10th November 2023, 8:34
1 car per team with the 3rd driver driving the car or better mandatory rookies with less than 2-3 race starts – have the sprint weekends when there are no support races.
That way the normal F1 weekend can be done with the support act F1 Sprint can fill gaps around with 1 hour practice on Friday (between FP1 and FP2) , qualifying on Saturday (between FP3 and qualifying) and the Sprint race on Sunday before the F1 race.
No more pollution of the real F1 season and a great opportunity for future talent to be evaluated in F1 cars not just in often meaningless practice sessions but qualifying and a race.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th November 2023, 9:13
Then if the position in the team is established, some drivers wouldn’t take part in the sprints at all, give me a reason why red bull would run perez instead of verstappen.
Except maybe in a moment like a race ago or 2, where they were desperate to get perez second in the title.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
10th November 2023, 12:49
@Anuj Chopra @esploratore1
How about a rule that only reserve drivers are allowed to race in Sprints? I think 10 cars for Sprints could work like that. Or at least it would be less bad than the current system.
S
10th November 2023, 9:17
Not it wouldn’t. It would halve the strategic options for each team and be half as interesting to watch.
Sham (@sham)
10th November 2023, 9:26
Along with DRS, the worst of F1.
Olivier (@olivenoire)
10th November 2023, 11:15
+1
Zann (@zann)
10th November 2023, 9:28
nothing changes in a sprint race after T1 and it doesn’t matter very much if it does. It’s so obviously just milking the actual event, a bit grasping and greedy and generally a bad vibe
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
10th November 2023, 10:21
I assume there is some sort of trophy/award given to the winner of this non-race/event/thingy that the driver must accept .If it were Max or someone else opposed to them, I’d love to see it thrown to the crowd a la Rossi(V).
Failing that publicly disposed of in a garbage bin or put on Ebabe buy it now $1 free postage.
I am opposed to the concept.
Patrick (@anunaki)
10th November 2023, 10:48
This year especially I feel that the Sprints removed all the surprise from the GP on Sundays but if you do Sprints just do it every weekend like in Moto GP
Alan Dove
10th November 2023, 11:03
Sprint races and a 24 race weekend calendar is taking F1 into Marvelisation territory. Over-saturation leading to audience empathy. That’s obviously not to sole reason with Marvel, but a big factor. Whether it’ll lead to interest decline with F1, as with the Marvel franchise, is yet to be seen but the way that Marvel films became ‘missable‘ post End Game certainly emulates how F1 weekends have become ‘missable‘. It’s basic supply and demand. Over-supply decreases value. Granted we haven’t got a championship battle this year, but the danger is if you get people into the habit of missing F1 weekends, it might be tough to bring them back in.
The danger with Sprints now is what comes next. I think Max, and those who aren’t fans of the format are aware of this. As with Marvel films Liberty might end up throwing everything at the screen in a vein attempt to provide show and entertainment, but the quality drops.
Olivier (@olivenoire)
10th November 2023, 11:16
+1
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
10th November 2023, 12:06
Nothing would surprise me. Match races!
At Vegas where spectators can bet on the results.
1 lap flying start, 3 lap rolling start, 5 lap standing start. Winner takes home a million.
Proudly brought to you by our sponsors Gamble Responsibly.
Bet Now! And often!
Etc etc
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
11th November 2023, 10:31
+ 1
Asd
10th November 2023, 11:11
A Sprint Championship would be created on an absolutely erroneous assumption that sprint races somehow present a different challenge to the teams and drivers from full-distance races and that they unfold differently. But they don’t. The winner of a 15 lap sprint race is always the car that would’ve otherwise led a normal race after 15 laps. And, unfortunately, in F1, whoever is in the lead by that time almost always goes on to win the race as well.
Thus, both formats inevitably yield identical results. You could actually argue that full-distance races are somewhat redundant for it.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
10th November 2023, 11:19
No. I’m okay with getting rid of sprint races, but the unpredictability of those weekends has been the best thing to happen in F1 since Halo.
Alan Dove
10th November 2023, 11:29
Unpredictability comes from novelty of format. Once it becomes norm teams figure it out. The only way to maintain novelty would be new formats every weekend, which wouldn’t be good.
Sham (@sham)
10th November 2023, 15:32
A good way to get differential of performance is to allow the teams more freedom to innovate and improve. Regulations so tight that you can’t develop and engine until it might, just might fail, or change gear ratios or come up with a new bright idea that suddenly changes the order… Like a double diffuser or an F Duct… F1 is too restrictive and not innovative any more.
Yes, the cost cap is a good idea, but let’s give the engineers some freedom and bring back tyre competition.
F1 was always and should always be, in my opinion, as.much about the engineering as it is the driving – a sport of excellence.
Take away the ability for the engineers to change the order, and you take away most of the fight – an F1 car should be the ultimate prototype, pushing the boundaries. Not taking it easy because they’re allowed 3 engines a season and can’t even change the gear ratios to suit the track.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
11th November 2023, 10:32
+ 1
PacificPR (@streydt)
10th November 2023, 12:17
Some ideas to make the sprint races more relevant and interesting. A: First of all make it a separate mini championship for the drivers – the constructors championship stays the same, sprint and regular championship points combined. B: for the sprint championship the teams can only use one of their regular drivers (allowed to alternate) and must use a junior / development / or guest driver for the second seat. C: teams will be allowed to change the setup of the car after the sprint race – this way they can use what they have learned from the sprint race – it will also mean we won’t get a copy paste from the sprint race and we can still have a surprise element. D: if C is not an option, a special tire for the sprint day (bot qualifying and race) that will not be used during the rest of the weekend.
Edvaldo
10th November 2023, 14:52
Sprints are terrible. There’s no saving for this concept. A couple of entertaining ones on Interlagos (not this season) doesn’t make it any good. It’s too short to provide any strategic options other than the tyres they start the race.
It’s a joke. Races for people who get bored of regular F1 activities and nothing else.
f1andrea
10th November 2023, 19:54
Delete sprint. EASY