Formula 1 drivers have criticised the decision to hold the first sprint event of the season at next week’s Chinese Grand Prix.
The series will return to the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time since 2019. However as sprint weekends include just one practice session instead of the usual three, drivers are concerned there will be too little time to react to any problems with a track it last raced on five years ago.Carlos Sainz Jnr said drivers warned the authorities that the lack of preparation time could lead to teams setting their cars too low and drivers being disqualified for excessive plank wear. This happened to his team mate Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the United States Grand Prix last year.
“What we said in the drivers’ briefing, we said to the FIA and Formula 1, with these kind of cars to go to a track with one hour of practice and straight into qualifying, with the regulations that they put us [under], with the plank wear and things like this, and how tricky one bump could make the car, I think it’s not a good choice to choose to [hold a] sprint after four or five years absence,” said Sainz.
He is also concerned that resurfacing work at the track may mean drivers have to cope with extremely low grip levels, as was the case when the series returned to Istanbul Park in 2020.
“We also heard there’s been resurfacing going on, so Istanbul 2.0 maybe on the cards,” Sainz added. “I hope not.”
“It just shows the uncertainty. Maybe for you guys at home it’s exciting, but for engineers and drivers, it’s something that for me, in my opinion, we shouldn’t take the risk and have a normal weekend.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Sainz said he wouldn’t be opposed to holding a sprint event at the Shanghai track if drivers had more recent experience of it.
Sergio Perez pointed out the weekend would be badly affected if the single practice session was affected by a loose drain cover. Similar problems disrupted testing in Bahrain this year and practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix last November. One of McLaren’s cars was damaged by a drain cover in F1’s second race at the Shanghai International Circuit in 2005.
“I just hope that there are no issues with the track, any drain holes, any issues like that,” said Perez. “That will just put us out of sync.
“For the show, probably it’s a good thing. But I think from the preparation side, it’s going to be definitely one that is going to be really hard. I’ve never raced there, for example, with Red Bull so it’s going to be quite a lot to do in a single practice.”
Perez’s team mate Max Verstappen, one of the most outspoken critics of F1’s sprint race format, said it was “not great” F1 has chosen to hold a sprint event on its return to China.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“When you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you’re going to experience, right? So it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.
“On the other hand, it probably spices things up a bit more, and that’s maybe what they would like to see. But purely from a driving perspective, the performance perspective of the sport, I think it’s not the smartest thing to do.
“We’ll see what we get there. I always loved driving there so hopefully we can hit the ground running as well as we can, and hopefully we don’t need to fine-tune too many things on the car.”
2024 Chinese Grand Prix
- “You need to be more on it”: 12 unheard radio exchanges from the Chinese GP
- Ricciardo needs to show “head-turning form” for 2025 chance – Horner
- With fourth format change in as many years, F1 relegated sprint races to a sideshow
- Williams accept ‘harsh but correct’ penalty for Sargeant
- Verstappen set to overtake Hamilton’s career race-winning rate at next round
Nick T.
9th April 2024, 8:22
Going to China is not a good idea, period. I find going to SA far, far less offensive. I mean, it’s truly disgusting they’ve been left on the calendar since around 2013.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2024, 10:26
What do you mean around 2013 & I also don’t get how is racing in China more offensive than in Saudi Arabia.
Ankita
9th April 2024, 11:39
And why is any of these places “offensive”?
Coventry Climax
9th April 2024, 12:46
I agree.
And racing in Saudi Arabia, @jerejj, is just as offensive as is racing in China. I don’t think that’s anything to do with Nick T.’s point. In fact, your questioning might even imply this: It’s OK to dump your garbage on the street, as the neighbour is doing it too. Not sure that’s what you meant to express though.
But I’d also like to add that I think a small prix is a bad idea by definition, any Grand Prix event, any part of the world.
CarWars (@maxv)
10th April 2024, 9:17
Racing in usa is offensive to a large part of the world as well. Weird morality in the west..
Yellow Baron
10th April 2024, 14:17
Yet it’s only the middle east races that have this dislike highlighted both from the media and all types of fans seemingly.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
10th April 2024, 18:27
They spend enough time in the US, where slavery is still legal and practiced my man. Things are not as advertised in this world of the real. Stay positive.
notagrumpyfan
9th April 2024, 8:26
As much as fans dislike the concept of Sprint races, there is no denying that they (and the subsequent full races) created some of the most exciting events of 2023.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
9th April 2024, 8:46
I’ll deny that, actually.
Baku was a borefest, and RaceFans’ lowest-rated GP of 2023. The biggest intrigue in Austria came from the numerous track limit violations. Belgium had nothing of interest – even the inevitable arrival of rain did nothing to improve matters. Qatar was a very strange race due to the tyre situation, but that had nothing to do with the sprint format. Austin was close at the front, but Verstappen had brake issues and Hamilton was running illegally low, so again nothing to do with the format. Interlagos was most notable for its disrupted early laps and the Alonso-Perez battle at the end, which would again be a stretch to attribute to the format.
In my view the best races of 2023 were Singapore, Las Vegas and Zandvoort, none of which were sprint rounds.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
9th April 2024, 8:54
+ 1 I agree with this. They were some of the poorest races. Not all of them though.
lucifer (@lucifer)
9th April 2024, 11:33
+ 2
Lorengzte (@lorengzte)
9th April 2024, 21:00
+3
Nick T.
9th April 2024, 8:58
I’m one who, with the new format especially that doesn’t lock in setups and completely separates quali / GP from sprint race and sprint quali, cannot for the life of me see why people are still complaining. I understood the complaints before, but there’s now truly nothing to complain about, unless you like seeing tons of practice sessions.
92Cuky
9th April 2024, 9:12
I don’t like that it is a half-baked idea. I understand that F1 wanted to test waters few years ago when they introduced the idea of a sprint race to F1. But now that they have few seasons of trial run it is time for them to choose to either have it in all weekends or none.
My opinion is that if we had a tight title race between 2-3 teams then having just a few sprints would instantly make the championship irregular because sprint races will be only on few tracks and maybe one team gets better on with those which means extra points on offer in comparison to those who’s car maybe doesn’t perform there.
Also, F2 and F3 are running sprint races since forever. If they can organize the event to work in for them then I can’t see how the same governing body can’t do it in F1. If costs would be too high then drop sprints or shrink the calendar back to 18-19 races, it is too big anyways.
Nick T.
9th April 2024, 9:35
But they’ve addressed the source of 99% of complaints. So, while you can criticize them for not getting the sprints right to being with, not sure how you can criticize it now, unless your criticism is that we should always have three practice sessions which allows the less talented drivers to dial themselves in and make a Noah’s ark effect.
And there’s zero reason why points scored during a sprint event are any less valid than points scored during a GP.
92Cuky
9th April 2024, 11:17
I’d like them to have sprint format in every GP weekend with less race weekends in a season. If there are a lot of interested organizers that want to have a race then have them rotate. Like for example China and Japan can be raced one in say 2025, other in 2026. Same with Bahrain and Saudi. Or Miami and Las Vegas.
“And there’s zero reason why points scored during a sprint event are any less valid than points scored during a GP.”
I didn’t say they are less valid. I said that in a tightly fought season one could say that they lost the championship because tracks where we had sprint races worked better with their competitors car than with theirs. And combine that with social media fans we would get Massa 2008, Hamilton 2021 or worse situation dragging over for years.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2024, 11:30
92Cuky Only European circuits would do bi-annual rotation.
All four Middle East locations most certainly will remain annual hosts, given their astronomical hosting fees.
Nick T.
9th April 2024, 16:39
I’d like less GPs too.
There’s so many ways seasons break unfairly or favor another driver or team, I can’t take the argument the system unfairly helps one team or driver seriously. At that point, you might as well breakdown the whole calendar and say 60% of the tracks suited x’s car more than y’s car. Is that any more or less fair?
I don’t love sprints. I just don’t hate them as passionately as so many seem to. I have a feeling people will be less aggrieved after seeing the new format, but will clearly still dislike them. It’s almost like politics. Fans (not you, just in general) have drawn their lines in the sand and won’t have their feelings changed. Ironically, it seems a solid 80% of longtime fans are in the opposed category. And I don’t know what the new gen thinks because I don’t know if and where they discuss these things.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th April 2024, 12:06
Sprints existed in 2021 already, so they already favoured a team over another by having only 3 sprints on 3 specific tracks, interlagos for example definitely favoured mercedes.
Coventry Climax
9th April 2024, 13:13
Why is it that some rounds yield more championship points than others?
Some circuits are ‘the chosen’ ones, and others disqualified? On what grounds? (I know the answer to that alright: $)
Business class and economy class weekends?
Apart from that I genuinely hate the small prix concept. It dilutes the Grand Prix, disrupts the build up to the event that should be the big, single event of the weekend, provides no Formula1 racing, yields predictable results, rewards the usual suspects, etc etc.
If it’s dragracing you like, have that as a support event. Actually, those are more exciting than the small prix.
It’s like taking your kids to both ‘Disney Micro Park’ and ‘Disney World’ on the same day, because Disney decided that on that day, you’re obliged to. One guess as to what the kids will still be talking about some weeks later.
Coventry Climax
9th April 2024, 13:17
Oh, and ‘Disney Micro Park’, that’s with a bland selection of the exact same attractions obviously, only with rides that not even last half as long.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
9th April 2024, 15:46
I’d prefer watching a practice session over a sprint gimmick format.
These silly sprints to me add nothing of any interest (So I don’t bother watching them) but take away sessions i do actually find interesting and want to watch.
I enjoy watching the practice sessions as i enjoy having sessions where you can just watch the cars and analyse things without having to pay much attention to lap times, positions etc.. Practice sessions are the best time of the weekend to just watch how different cars are handling, to switch around all of the onboard camera streams and analyse all that stuff. I just love doing that and a single 60 minute session just doesn’t give enough time to take anything in.
And I especially love having a lot of practice time when i’m actually attending the circuit because it allows for time to walk around the circuit and watch from different locations, something you don’t want to be doing during qualifying sessions or races when you need to be paying attention to the lap times, positions, strategies etc..
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
10th April 2024, 4:26
@roger-ayles exactly.
I used to love watching how the cars progressed during practice, and watch for new bits being trialed, while all the cars were dialed in over the 3 sessions in an attempt to get the absolute best out of driver and machine by the time we got to the pointy end.
Now with shortened sessions, and these sprint abominations, we’re just not seeing the build up that we used to and we’re seeing far more less than optimised cars come race day. On abomination weekends, they’re generally not even close to optimised.
Absolutely agree about the value of practice sessions when attending races. The ability to walk around and observe from various parts of the circiut (and occasionally find a better spot to view things in GA for the next season) makes my weekends when at the track.
Coventry Climax
10th April 2024, 9:44
Same here.
Rom
9th April 2024, 8:38
Really not the brighest idea to do a sprint at China as the track with a newly laid surface can be a tyre killer and with the lack of running with these gen cars, we may get another Qatar last year when it turns out the tyres were not fit for purpose.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2024, 11:30
Relaid tarmac is usually easier for tyres.
S
9th April 2024, 8:56
So, basically – all the reasons not to have a sprint race are the best reasons to have a sprint race.
The less happy the teams and drivers are, the better the event will likely be.
StephenH
9th April 2024, 9:35
Having a sprint race at any venue is not a good choice.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
9th April 2024, 10:44
1000% agree but unfortunately they won’t back down.
After all their surveys show it’s really really popular.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th April 2024, 12:09
Since it replaced practice ofc it’s popular, what can be more boring than f1 practice?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th April 2024, 12:09
All the survey results say is sprints aren’t as boring as practice, it doesn’t say they’re awesome.
lucifer (@lucifer)
9th April 2024, 11:35
agreed
Robert (@rob8k)
9th April 2024, 12:20
“any venue”. It’s ok, they didn’t say all so we good for sprint race in China!
Leksa (@leksa)
9th April 2024, 15:35
Stole my comment.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
9th April 2024, 10:16
That seems a weird objection to make. Plenty of rookies have been doing sprint races at tracks they’ve never raced at. But now all these experienced drivers can’t possible have on at a track, because they haven’t raced there in a few years?
Come on, you’re the supposed cream of the crop of the racing world.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
9th April 2024, 10:30
It is not about learning the track for the drivers – it is much more for the engineers to set-up the car.
A rookie might need to learn the circuit but his team will have an extensive dataset from previous years.
Now for China the teams do have data from 2019 & earlier races but most of that data is pretty useless given that the cars have changed a lot and the track has been resurfaced.
Having just 1 hour session to set-up your car with lots of unknowns is the issue.
Although I thought that the FIA and teams agreed that park ferme would now only apply from main race qualifying – meaning teams are allowed to change set ups after the sprint qualifying and race.
If that is the case than the teams have less to complaint about because effectively have 1 hour of practice, a practice qualifying and a practice race with the outcome of the sprint race not impacting the main race and far fewer points available.
grat
9th April 2024, 19:30
When you have incredibly restrictive aero and suspension rules, it’s kind of important for the teams to understand the track as well.
But hey, screw it. I hope the weekend’s a complete and utter disaster and drivers run out of tires in the middle of the race.
S
10th April 2024, 2:55
I hope so too – it has the potential to breathe some life into strategy and shake up the order.
The ‘racing’ would be garbage to non-existent regardless of how much practice they get, so might as well do something potentially interesting.
If the teams are so intent on taking too much risk as per COTA, then some DSQ’s would be interesting too.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2024, 10:24
While the Shanghai International Circuit itself isn’t new by any means, the fact it’s been away for four seasons & technical regulations changed in this intervening period definitely makes only having a single practice session unideal for teams & drivers, not to mention even risky to an extent, so having the standard weekend format for this season & sprint format for or from next season onwards would’ve been a wiser choice to eliminate all possible unintended consequences, but hopefully, everything works out okay.
Coventry Climax
9th April 2024, 13:24
‘Hopefully’ is a word that should be eliminated by the organisers, where safety is concerned.
They tried that already with last year’s Vegas circuit check – and a repeat quite soon after, ‘hoping’ everything would be ok.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
9th April 2024, 10:31
I thought that the FIA and teams agreed, together with new sprint weekend order, that park ferme would now only apply from main race qualifying – meaning teams are allowed to change set ups after the sprint qualifying and race.
If that is the case than the teams have less to complaint about because effectively have 1 hour of practice, a practice qualifying and a practice race with the outcome of the sprint race not impacting the main race and far fewer points available.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2024, 11:31
That indeed should be the case.
S
9th April 2024, 10:53
At least these three drivers agree that they are only complaining about their side of it, while thankfully recognising that the sprint format and associated reduced practice time will likely make it more interesting for viewers.
It’s nice when people realise the world doesn’t completely revolve around them…
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
9th April 2024, 12:42
All of the concerns brought up by the drivers are valid but are also the reasons for F1 to do what they’re doing. Red Bull is dominating the season and they only thing that might give Red Bull issues is uncertainty. So let’s have little practice, on a new surface, at a track that hasn’t been visited in a few years. And they’re probably hoping for a little rain, not a wash out, but a good drizzle. It’s about the show.
Coventry Climax
9th April 2024, 13:30
The best car usually remains the best even under sub-optimal circumstances, so I don’t see how this would change the order. Also remember Verstappen’s overtaking class on a soaked Interlagos, some years ago? I doubt rain will be more of a disadvantage to Verstappen than to most others.
isthatglock21
9th April 2024, 18:02
Why cause the poor drivers & engineers can’t run a million in real life simulations for the ‘za data za data’ bs? Don’t like spinrt races, but if we must I prefer them with little prep time, especially on tracks we haven’t been to for a while. Spice up a ya life…not by cheating on ya PA this time lads.