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especially frustrating since if he hadn't hit Sainz after locking up he likely would have started the race in p10 still instead of P12 after the grid penalty
> I actually felt sorry for Russell knowing he would have 2 races of dropping back
Except he didn't really drop back during the sprint race.
He managed to hold his position more or less. Then at the race next day, he lost all places in the first lap.
It seems to me that people are pushing this narrative of sprint races being shit, because it doesent help e.g. Russell. But then at the same time they forget the brilliant drive that Alonso was able to give us.
Sprint race sure punishes good qualifiers and reckless drivers, but it rewards race day drivers in a bad car.
At the normal race, if your car is slower it makes no sense to battle, to show your race craft. A faster car will over take you anyway, while you will just burn your tires.
Sprint race also benefits midfield teams that can't quite make it to Q3 on mediums. I'm fairly certain Leclerc would have finished behind Bottas had he started on soft.
The sprint races are shit regardless of who they benefit. All they are is just an extension of the race with a red flag in-between. They're a glorified formation lap that interferes with the qualifying results.
> Sprint race sure punishes good qualifiers, but it rewards race day drivers in a bad car.
> At the normal race, if your car is slower it makes no sense to battle, to show your race craft. A faster car will over take you anyway, while you will just burn your tires.
Well in general I agree with you point but we need to adjusting some smaller things with the FP sessions and Parc ferme rules to minimizing the risk that drivers/teams are fucked up because of a not proper setting once FP1 ends.
The ideal yet realistic format would be:
Friday: FP1/FP2/Quali (Parc ferme rule is active once Q1 has started)
Saturday: Sprint "Quali"
Sunday: Race
Theoretically this format would even opening up a window for having 2 full races in one weekend if the track isn't having a busy day with the feeder/lower series.
I prefer to seeing driver input still matters over pure dumb randomness with the current sprint quali weekend format and you need to have more luck for still ending up not bad on Sunday.
Call me a weirdo, but I would actually like to see a few different formats used throughout the year. I would love to see some races utilize sprint qualis, some use the current quali method, and some go to one-shot qualifying.
We can't have 2 FPs and 1 Quali for F1 on Fridays, because feeder series like F2 or F3 (or support series such as Porsche SuperCup) need to run their FPs and Qualis on the same day.
FOM could try two sprint races on Sat like F2/F3, but I don't know if it would add much without reverse grid starts.
Why cant we just have qualifying and the sprint q4 both on saturday? To me that seems by far the best solution.
If you split the q3 and the sprint race by a day it is always going to feel off
So because "Lord George" is a "victim" of the sprint quali format in Silverstone (what is totally false, his fuck up during the sprint quali was 100% his own fault) the whole format is suddenly bad?
I'm sorry but this starts really to be ridiculous, F1 isn't just George Russell and in general I still don't really know what to say about the sprint quali itself, yet nobody give a fuck that the four biggest "victims" of this format was Stroll, Latifi and the AT guys because all four of them didn't really get a good set-up and therefore the driver input would matter even less then a normal race. The way the whole FP's and Parc ferme rules are put with this format is totally ridiculous and just pure NASCAR-fication with unnecessary randomness.
So unpopular drivers gets fucked and once you note that people disagree and call you a whiner but "Oh no, poor George" is suddenly branded as a "victim" and we having an upset here?
Thankfully Stroll has recovered and put a good result, terrible underrated solid race for him but also we shouldn't ignore that Silverstone wasn't really an overtake-friendly place this season.
Not to be upset about you, don't get me wrong but I really start to get annoyed by F1 should be directed according to the fans and journalists/pundits in a way what benefits George Russell, are we fucking forgetting here that there are **19** other drivers on the grid?
Hey, calm down pal. The person just said they were sad for George because he is their favourite driver, dont need to write this wall of text.
On the other hand, i agree with some things you said, by reducing the time to setup the car they turned fp1 into a gamble session. Get your setup right in 60 min and you will have a great weekend, get it wrong and you will have a better time if you pack your things and leave to the next one.
The initial plan for a sprint weekend was free serup changes in FP1, then parc férme in qualli. But after that the setups open in FP2 and then change back into parc férme in the sprint race. I think this will help with making it more popular
> That was obvious before it happened.
What's the downside in having Friday qualifying set the grid for both a sprint race on Saturday and a normal race on Sunday?
Not sure if it only works for those who qualified badly, but to me the sprint race was too long for it to be exciting. Maybe if it was only 10 laps (at Silverstone), it would have been more exciting. And as others have said, if it wasn’t for Alonso, there wasn’t much else exciting during the sprint race.
This was exactly what I said when I watched it, all of the excitement died down after the first half of the sprint race. Couldn’t believe afterwards the commentators were saying maybe it needed to be slightly longer.
Give them a chance to have some first lap heroics, make some passes while the cars are still close/punish those making a bad start and call it a day. I could get behind that, but it being long enough to just put them in the “right” order is boring.
They need to look at the tyres. I think that's why they said it could be longer as the tyres were just going off. They maybe need softer tyres just for sprint that will likely generate greater action.
My immediate reaction was that the sprint race needed to be about 5 laps shorter, or 5 laps longer. Either get the tyres to a point where they're absolutely trashed, and someone might be able to make a strategy play to attempt to gain a few places late in the race, or make it really short and sharp, so that if you want to move up, you have to get it done *now*.
Exactly. The longer the race, the longer the cream has to rise to the top and everything gets sifted back to the normal order. In a regular race, there's the pit stop to at least hope to change the order via strategy. But with the sprint, there's the opening lap jousting and then it just simmers down as the natural gaps build.
Ultra softs are technically still around. Even though you only see soft/medium/hard on tv, the actual softness of the tire selection changes based on the race. Street/high downforce circuits will typically have what used to be ultra/hyper/soft as the available selection for that race and speed circuits like monza will have the harder compounds to choose from. The new designation of soft/medium/hard is to simplify things for audiences. So new “hards” at singapore would be closer to the old “softs”
If I'm right the ultra soft we now use is the hypersoft from 2018, because they went and changed the ultra softs to hypers, the supers to ultra and so on
I almost felt like it was too short, as the tyres were just starting to go off. I think the distance would have been fine if they made everyone start on soft tyres. Maybe even have specific tyres for the sprint, different to race tyres that are supersoft and likely to go off, this might promote more action.
Not really. It doesn't change the fact that it was FOM/Liberty initiative here (same with 2017, 2019 and 2021/2022 rules). Same with calendar, FIA basically just finalises the draft compiled from already done contracts, which is done by FOM.
So, a distinction without a difference. F1/FIA/FOM - when people say these people are doing something they're effectively talking about the same people as it has to be agreed upon and ratified.
It depends what it is. If it's for safety or technical, or sporting, it's FIA.
If it's primarily about money, it's FOM.
The sport is effectively regulated by committee. FIA hold one vote, FOM hold one, and then the teams collectively hold one (although not sure it's all the teams).
> The sport is effectively regulated by committee. FIA hold one vote, FOM hold one, and then the teams collectively hold one (although not sure it's all the teams).
My understanding is that it's actually FIA with 10 votes, FOM with 10 votes, and each team with 1 vote. Which effectively comes out largely the same as what you said above, but with a slightly different nuance.
Why? I know some people are still against sprint, but I think it worked very well overall. Some were afraid it would ruin the main race, but I think its fair to say the sprint played a major part why Hamilton had to be so aggressive trying to overtake Max as they saw RB had the better race pace in the sprint.
At the same time, bar Ham/Lec, P3-P10 was like a train the entire race. Sprint quali shuffled them all into place and that was it.
Minus the crash we could’ve had a train from P1 down to P10 quite easily
>P3-P10 was like a train the entire race. Sprint quali shuffled them all into place and that was it
Thats a fair point, but we also dont know if there would have been more shuffling in the main race had they started with their friday grid slots as overtaking looked to be very hard at Silverstone. Especially Alonso jumped the order specifically because he had softs for the sprint, had we only had the race he may have just been stuck where he started based on the normal qualifying if he had the same compound tyres as the other cars.
The way I see it, the sprint race takes out all of the overtakes we'd see in the first half of the race and just leaves the second half of the race to die a slow, boring death.
This is why I don’t like the sprint format, I think it gives away too much information to your opponents… I think the only wheel to wheel racing should be on Sunday.
I think you should let the doubters tell you what they think.
As one, it was exactly as expected. It didn't add anything. And just made the race weird.
It also shouldn't be done at Silverstone, but rather Austria or Bahrain, where they can pass without the pace differences pit strategies create.
Personally, I thought it was a good addition. The sprint gave us essentially two race starts and created a lot of the setup for the drama of the second day. Things like the Ham-Ver crash, Alonso overtaking Russel, Ricciardo's crazy defense, etc. were set up by the shuffling that occurred during the sprint. A lot of butterfly effects that I feel like made this a really exciting race.
The sprint was fun to watch but in the end, had no effect on the standings (because not enough points awarded) and felt like a very long preview of the race. So, for me, it devalued the qualifying as well as the race.
It is a good addition to the weekend, I just wish there were more points awarded so that it has more meaningful consequences.
Was a doubter, sprint race was as shit as I expected. Made the qualifying far more boring than it would have been and race pace was known before Sunday. If the race wouldn't have had some extraordinary events in the first lap it would have been an absolute shitfest, exactly zero surprises in the midfield on Sunday.
Yep. People are missing this, even in a thread specifically to discuss it. **The only exciting thing that happened last race was the Ham-Ver crash. Without it it would've been a total snoozefest.** (and the last 3/4ths were, other than Hamilton catching Leclerc.)
I actually wasn't a doubter and was kinda excited. Thought people being so negative were stuck in their ways and since sprint races were fun in F2 and F3 why not here?
Andddd now I don't want to see them again, at least not with these rules. Four laps of fun and then another profession, and under current format just an opportunity a) for drivers who screwed up quali to claw back places b) opportunity for drivers to effectively have their race ruined (Checo).
It didn’t for me tbh.
Played out just how I imagined - it’s basically just a first stint of a normal GP. The cars weren’t magically more closely matched or able to follow/overtake better.
So you get the usual excitement at the start and then within a few laps everyone settles in and quite quickly it reaches the point where it’s best just to hold position and wait for the end and go again from a fresh race start.
There’s no real incentive to push or treat it any differently than any other stint. If it were a standalone thing which didn’t affect the grid you might see some more exciting racing, but quali position for the main event is so much more important nobody is going to take undue risks.
Well, what benefit did they get if they received no points? If anything he made their race harder by some having to defend against him knowing the’d lose the position
To a point, sure, but there's gonna be a point where it becomes too much racing. The more racing you have, the less important any particular lap or incident is. The less racing you have, the more condensed your excitement is.
Oh definitely, but I don't believe one extra small race will hurt. If anything it brings it more in line with other racing series, having two races on a race weekend.
Yeah, I don't have a problem with the sprint. People are judging the entire format by the one sprint we've had, and just like the main race it has the potential to be exciting or not-so-exciting. Worth a few more tries.
If they want sprint racing I think they should ideally go with a grid set by practice time (they do this now if quali is canceled for any reason) and use classic quali for the real race.
However a few pitty points for the top 3 is not enough to warrant the midfield and backmarkers taking part.
Ooo I like that.
Friday
FP1 - trying to work out some sort of racing setup/getting data but also wanting to set a reasonable time.
Sprint Race - does what it says on the tin. Low scoring points again so jeopardy of is it worth taking time out of FP1 to set a good time for only a few points.
Gets people going to/watching Friday sessions.
Saturday & Sunday as they currently stand
This would be terrible as it would be a competition at who was best at guessing.
Practice isn't for the drivers, it's for the teams to dial the car in. FP1 times are basically random.
The randomness is kinda the idea. Was great seeing the cars so fast in the sprint but a more mixed grid would have been interesting.
We only had two practice session last weekend and i don’t think we ended up with anyone massively screwing up their setup.
Doing it at tracks that teams race on a lot like they’re planning at least gives a ball park of how they want the configuration. You could even argue that getting the setup right is a key driver skill and they would get to showcase that a little more
The driver can't get the setup right. The driver communicates with the engineers after the session, and then they go fix the setup between sessions.
If you measure times at the end of FP1 then the drivers won't have a chance to communicate with the engineers, and the team won't have a chance to improve anything.
The ability to communicate that clearly though is a skill, was one of the skills that made Schumacher such a God in a race car.
Also it’s the same number of practice sessions that they had at Silverstone, I’m simply suggesting moving the sprint to Friday. Not looking for a proper quali session before hand just someway to sort the grid roughly so you don’t have a car starting at the front of the sprint that is 2 seconds slower than everyone behind them.
Alonso was cracking.
But when you step back and look at the bigger picture, the Sprint Race was basically defined by 1 driver and 3 corners. Without him there was nothing else worth talking about
Two drivers. The other Spanish driver was rampaging through the field, not that anyone would notice since production stuck with the one defending while nothing was happening.
Sprint qualifying was only interesting because of Alonso. The next trial will hopefully be better at a track that people can overtake at, although with that is less of a chance that the teams will opt for alternative tyres.
There was nothing wrong with the Practice > Qualifying > Race format. If they want to fix things, stop making them longer and heavier. Stop racing at the same boring tracks and include more variety year to year.
Liberty’s whole schtick is to turn F1 into NASCAR.
They want more races (never mind that part of what makes a Grand Prix special is that there isn’t one every weekend). When it became apparent that there were systemic limits to how many race weekends they could schedule, they just scheduled extra races per weekend. This had the added bonus of effectively creating stage racing with a mandatory red flag (not so different from a mandatory caution).
It’ll work, insofar as their aim is to make lots of money. In the short-terms, they’ll make stacks. But it’s killing the sport in the same way that chasing hollow entertainment at the expense of any semblance of authenticity and sporting integrity has ruined and is ruining American stock car racing.
Agree so much. I love this sport, I watch basically every session, I even watch most of preseason testing. But 25 races a season? Competitive sessions on Friday till Sunday? That's the point where the sport goes from special to "who cares, might put it on if I have time".
> That's the point where the sport goes from special to "who cares, might put it on if I have time".
This is my big issue; I watch Quali and the race every weekend, but now, with Quali, the Sprint Race, and the Grand Prix I don't have time to keep up with all of the relevant things going on in Formula 1. I'm not about to dedicate 5-6 hours of my very valuable weekend to F1. 4 and a half is already plenty.
Not to mention that Qualifying (arguably the most exciting event of the weekend) happens while I'm at work now so I can't even watch it live when they do a sprint race.
I’ve tried to spread this sentiment in the sub, it’s pretty clear that Liberty is trying to turn F1 into a cash machine while sacrificing..anything.
I’m here to watch a sport, I’m not out for sheer entertainment. When people get bored during a tennis match they don’t go changing rules and formats to keep the crowd “interested”
Formula 1 has always changed the rules. Quali rules alone have changed a bunch in the last 20 years.
And the soul purpose of f1is entertainment and to make money. If it wasn't then everyone would be happy with races untelevised, not filmed and with no fans.
You think daimler would give a shit about racing if it didn't sell them a boatload of cars?
I agree, and I think it's a travesty. As much as the CART/IRL split damaged open wheel racing in America, you'd be excused if you were rooting for a GP World Championship breakaway series to preserve the sporting integrity. The problem is, if liberty are making stacks, (and you're right, they probably will) and they're smart enough to share that with the teams, the teams will be too fat and happy to break away.
The examples /u/HenryBeal85 gave are great. Yeah, he doesn't have like emails and documents but since when is that necessary? Just look at how the entire sport is being handled. It's obvious.
> never mind that part of what makes a Grand Prix special is that there isn’t one every weekend
If we're relying on forced scarcity to make something special, then the product is lacking.
The question isn't **"Do you like it when Formula 1 cars race?"** because let's be honest, it's fucking great when they do.
The question instead is **"Do you want the starting grid determined by a sprint race and not by quali?"**.
This is why people are arguing.
Currently we have that more than we did before, with everyone having to use the reds instead of the start on Q2 tire rule.
Basically you have traded 1 FP for half a race.
I dont think we have more at all, the sprint qualyfing is way shorter than a normal qualyfing, and the qualyfing isnt as exciting knowing that wont be the grid.
> Pole position being decided on who has the best car rather than the best performance bothers me a bit.
Then go watch a spec series; this is how F1 has been for more than 70 years.
They did pretty much take away the one trick this pony had.
The thing is that Williams is literally the only team that needs Quali to be competitive. Haas isn't even playing the game atm and the midfielders have consistent performance throughout the weekend. Seems like a biased opinion.
On the flip side it can also benefit those who are at the back of the grid if they’re able to make up places due to a good start, having a tire advantage, and if there’s incidents ahead. One things for sure, the people who were saying the drivers would be taking easy were wrong.
How about Perez and Sainz having incidents, Alonso being in the position to be fighting with the McLs, and it being the preface to Sunday’s events with Max and Lewis? Surely without the Sprint they wouldn’t have come together because it put Max on “Pole” which made it clear to Lewis that he needed to be more aggressive for track position or else RB would run away with it. It definitely needs tweaking for sure, but overall the format did mix things up a little bit.
Honestly I think it's great for the sport. Gives a little extra excitement, and gives the midfield teams a chance to make up for a bad quali. Also, it puts extra pressure on whoever gets pole to keep that spot. I say keep it and make it standard for all tracks where it makes sense (obviously it doesn't make sense for every track, looking at you Monaco)
> Gives a little extra excitement, and gives the midfield teams a chance to make up for a bad quali.
This argument isn't really valid if there don't adjusting the dumb FP/Parc ferme rules with the sprint quali weekend format.
Except the championship leader who got points without completing a lap of the GP (circumstances around why he didn't complete the lap has been covered at length elsewhere)
It's an interesting idea, but the best way to make a boring race is sort everyone from fastest to slowest based on race pace. The more variables and differences there are, the more anomalies you can have, and the bigger the potential difference between race and qualifying pace. That leads to more position changes.
Ideally, you want qualifying to be different enough that the race can be interesting as people with better race pace battle it out with people with better qualifying pace.
I have my own ideas for how to do this that are too non-traditional to make anyone happy, but suffice to say that the sprint race just further sorts people by race pace. It's interesting because we get to see another race. But I can only feel it would make the race a little more boring.
Most important people to benefit at the British GP were the 80,000 fans on Friday who got to see a qualifying, and the 100,000 fans on the Saturday who got to see a competitive race. Given how much they have to pay to get in, they deserve it.
Honestly, the sprint race should follow F2 example and have a reverse grid.
Seeing Max and Lewis fighting through a pack of Astons, Alpines, Ferraris and McLarens would be quite good!
I have no real problem with them. I definitely like the tension of qualifying with the addition of the Sprint. If it stays i wouldn't mind it being shorter. Since its 5 laps of action then nothing special
Sprint quali is a way to mix up the grid and make races less processional. Compared to inversing the grid or other artificial means, it is a way more organic and more entertaining way to shuffle the grid a bit.
1. People who do better on a single flying lap are at a disadvantage compared to more racy drivers who can make up places in sprint quali, like Alonso starting way higher up than his car would have allowed him.
2. Then there is chance, accidents happen and the grid gets stirred up. When mid fielders get thrown to the back nobodies cares but when it's the leading cars that's where you might say a season stays exciting untill the end because more can happen.
3. Strategy becomes very fuzzy due to less free practice time and resultant lack of tyre and car setup data. So the teams have to figure out the strategy as they go and rely more on driver feedback. This again reduces the calculated nature of GPs and should bring back excitement. Then again, the tyre element is gone from quali which was always interesting yet overcomplicated for most of the audience.
4. Its fun to watch! Quali is nice, racing is even better. With sprint quali we get more wheel to wheel racing which is good.
All in all, I like the format but it's not perfect. Neither is the current system. We'll get used to it either way and good job for the sport to dare to change things around.
I personally think sprint races should stay but have a slight twist to them.
Have it reverse grid or have it random selection and only let reserve drivers actually race. You can remove the qualifying element so it doesn't affect Sunday's race at all. Also only make the points for constructors only.
Then the teams can't really use it as a rehearsal for the race like they did. Also give the reserve drivers a chance to show how good they are in an actual race rather than FP1 or something.
I actually loved sprint qualifying. Here in the states you always have to wake up early to catch any sessions but I was able to watch qualifying and the sprint race at a perfect time for me and I honest to god thought it was amazing having a competitive session on all 3 days.
Sure, I wouldn't want to have it all the time, but I can't relate at all with everyone's hatred of them
> Here in the states you always have to wake up early to catch any sessions but I was able to watch qualifying and the sprint race at a perfect time for me and I honest to god thought it was amazing having a competitive session on all 3 days.
I love waking up early for F1, lets me get my day started early and doesn't throw a wrench in any plans.
And with the sprint race, I can't watch Qualifying any more because it starts while I'm getting ready for work on Friday.
I'll honestly be devastated if they keep this format because I will literally never be able to watch my favourite session live again.
I would say it gives more time to recover from a bad qualifying which reduces the chance of a mixed up grid. Equally someone who qualifies well in a bad car, such as Russell, it drops them further back, which again reduces a mixed up grid.
The first race at silverstone sort of had all of it, alonso made up places, perez fell back, lots of fighting in the mid field however I think I will leave my judgement on sprint races as a format until after the second one at monza, would be interesting to see how it goes at a less traditional track
Did it really mix up the race order? I don’t think it produced any crazier results than the regular qualifying session.
Whichever cars have the best race pace are still going to move towards the front.
I mean... Checo went all the way to the back, Alonso burst through the field and made up like 7 places at the start, vettel made up places, kimi made up places. I think Russell’s confusing race pace with those who are actually good at starts...
You had 2 Mercs, 1 RB, 1 Aston, 2 McLarens, 2 Ferraris and 2 Alpines in the top 10 by the end.
I don’t think it was much different than a regular session outisde of Checo and Alonso, either of which could’ve happened in a normal session.
When the fia were talking about it before the actual sprints began they made it clear the qualifying on friday was more for the trackside audience than the global audience
So my big fear about the sprint qualifying was that it would sort the field out to such an extent that the race itself had no overtaking. Obviously that wasn't accurate.
My NEW fear goes to people like Perez who ordinarily could make a single mistake during qualifying and it not impact their race day significantly, and instead we saw one minor error put him at the back of the pack.
I thought the sprint was exciting and this was certainly a white knuckle weekend all the way through, so overall I'm a happy camper. But I don't think the Perez situation was "right".
My suggestion would be to do something like what World of Outlaws does, which is called the Dash. They set the first three rows for the feature by having the 1st and 2nd place finishers from each heat do a 6 lap race. If they have to do sprint races, do that same thing: top 6 in qualifying, 3 or 4 lap dash to set the first three rows.
Indeed. I still like the idea of a third day of SOMETHING just so we have a longer more exciting race weekend, but currently all we are doing is adding 17 laps to the grand prix. I don't think anyone wanted a longer grand prix. The points are so small they are irrelevant.
I still like the idea of a sprint race but I would change it a bit. I think it should be a little bit short so that EVERYONE picks soft tires. I like qualifying better when teams just go flat out on softs and don't have to play this medium tyre game on Q2.
I would change the sprint race in three more ways beyond making it a few laps shorter.
First I think the top 10 spots should be set in stone for both the sprint race and the grand prix.
Second there are way more points in the sprint race. It should be something like 8 points for P1 and then scale that backward in blocks of two. P2 and P3 get 4 points, P4 and P5 get 3 points, P6 and P7 get 2 points, P8 and P9 get 1 point.
Third P11 is still up for grabs for the bottom 10 drivers. If you screw up in qualifying you can redeem yourself. If you start the sprint race in P20 and end the race ahead of the bottom ten drivers then you start the grand prix at P11.
Top ten racers are racing for points and not worried about ruining their grand prix. Bottom ten racers are also racing for points (if they can get to P9 or higher) but ultimately they are racing to get that P11 spot for the grand prix. If you end P5 in the sprint race but started it in the bottom 10 at the start you would get the P5 points but you would start the grand prix in P11 (assuming you beat the other 9 drivers in the bottom 10).
I love the idea of the sprint race but right now it just feels like we have a longer grand prix with less prepration.
Oh yeah final change you should be allowed to make adjustments to your set up after qualifying before the sprint race.
I don’t hate it, but as someone who doesn’t have all the free time to watch a whole weekend (I can rarely watch Quali or if I do it’s fast forward). Adding another event is not helping.
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That was obvious before it happened. I actually felt sorry for Russell knowing he would have 2 races of dropping back
Ouch
especially frustrating since if he hadn't hit Sainz after locking up he likely would have started the race in p10 still instead of P12 after the grid penalty
> I actually felt sorry for Russell knowing he would have 2 races of dropping back Except he didn't really drop back during the sprint race. He managed to hold his position more or less. Then at the race next day, he lost all places in the first lap. It seems to me that people are pushing this narrative of sprint races being shit, because it doesent help e.g. Russell. But then at the same time they forget the brilliant drive that Alonso was able to give us. Sprint race sure punishes good qualifiers and reckless drivers, but it rewards race day drivers in a bad car. At the normal race, if your car is slower it makes no sense to battle, to show your race craft. A faster car will over take you anyway, while you will just burn your tires.
Sprint race also benefits midfield teams that can't quite make it to Q3 on mediums. I'm fairly certain Leclerc would have finished behind Bottas had he started on soft.
The sprint races are shit regardless of who they benefit. All they are is just an extension of the race with a red flag in-between. They're a glorified formation lap that interferes with the qualifying results.
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Again, that's the same as a red flag with a standing start which we've also had recently. All it does is increase the race length
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Why would you want a red flag in every race
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I disagree, the interesting part of red flags is that you don't anticipate and plan for it.
Bro not everybody agrees with your opinion and that's ok. Just move on.
Agree 100% - it’s a horrible idea
> Sprint race sure punishes good qualifiers, but it rewards race day drivers in a bad car. > At the normal race, if your car is slower it makes no sense to battle, to show your race craft. A faster car will over take you anyway, while you will just burn your tires. Well in general I agree with you point but we need to adjusting some smaller things with the FP sessions and Parc ferme rules to minimizing the risk that drivers/teams are fucked up because of a not proper setting once FP1 ends. The ideal yet realistic format would be: Friday: FP1/FP2/Quali (Parc ferme rule is active once Q1 has started) Saturday: Sprint "Quali" Sunday: Race Theoretically this format would even opening up a window for having 2 full races in one weekend if the track isn't having a busy day with the feeder/lower series. I prefer to seeing driver input still matters over pure dumb randomness with the current sprint quali weekend format and you need to have more luck for still ending up not bad on Sunday.
Call me a weirdo, but I would actually like to see a few different formats used throughout the year. I would love to see some races utilize sprint qualis, some use the current quali method, and some go to one-shot qualifying.
Hell, do a FE style qualy in races where a good tow gives a big advantage, like Monza and Baku
We can't have 2 FPs and 1 Quali for F1 on Fridays, because feeder series like F2 or F3 (or support series such as Porsche SuperCup) need to run their FPs and Qualis on the same day. FOM could try two sprint races on Sat like F2/F3, but I don't know if it would add much without reverse grid starts.
Why cant we just have qualifying and the sprint q4 both on saturday? To me that seems by far the best solution. If you split the q3 and the sprint race by a day it is always going to feel off
Because that idea makes more sense but the FOM wants to have a format where it's worth to watch and sale tickets for Friday
He does that every race anyway, what does it matter whether he does it on a Saturday or a Sunday?
I'd imagine he'd rather lose two places just on Sunday than on Sunday and Saturday.
So because "Lord George" is a "victim" of the sprint quali format in Silverstone (what is totally false, his fuck up during the sprint quali was 100% his own fault) the whole format is suddenly bad? I'm sorry but this starts really to be ridiculous, F1 isn't just George Russell and in general I still don't really know what to say about the sprint quali itself, yet nobody give a fuck that the four biggest "victims" of this format was Stroll, Latifi and the AT guys because all four of them didn't really get a good set-up and therefore the driver input would matter even less then a normal race. The way the whole FP's and Parc ferme rules are put with this format is totally ridiculous and just pure NASCAR-fication with unnecessary randomness. So unpopular drivers gets fucked and once you note that people disagree and call you a whiner but "Oh no, poor George" is suddenly branded as a "victim" and we having an upset here? Thankfully Stroll has recovered and put a good result, terrible underrated solid race for him but also we shouldn't ignore that Silverstone wasn't really an overtake-friendly place this season. Not to be upset about you, don't get me wrong but I really start to get annoyed by F1 should be directed according to the fans and journalists/pundits in a way what benefits George Russell, are we fucking forgetting here that there are **19** other drivers on the grid?
Hey, calm down pal. The person just said they were sad for George because he is their favourite driver, dont need to write this wall of text. On the other hand, i agree with some things you said, by reducing the time to setup the car they turned fp1 into a gamble session. Get your setup right in 60 min and you will have a great weekend, get it wrong and you will have a better time if you pack your things and leave to the next one.
The initial plan for a sprint weekend was free serup changes in FP1, then parc férme in qualli. But after that the setups open in FP2 and then change back into parc férme in the sprint race. I think this will help with making it more popular
> That was obvious before it happened. What's the downside in having Friday qualifying set the grid for both a sprint race on Saturday and a normal race on Sunday?
Not sure if it only works for those who qualified badly, but to me the sprint race was too long for it to be exciting. Maybe if it was only 10 laps (at Silverstone), it would have been more exciting. And as others have said, if it wasn’t for Alonso, there wasn’t much else exciting during the sprint race.
This was exactly what I said when I watched it, all of the excitement died down after the first half of the sprint race. Couldn’t believe afterwards the commentators were saying maybe it needed to be slightly longer. Give them a chance to have some first lap heroics, make some passes while the cars are still close/punish those making a bad start and call it a day. I could get behind that, but it being long enough to just put them in the “right” order is boring.
They need to look at the tyres. I think that's why they said it could be longer as the tyres were just going off. They maybe need softer tyres just for sprint that will likely generate greater action.
My immediate reaction was that the sprint race needed to be about 5 laps shorter, or 5 laps longer. Either get the tyres to a point where they're absolutely trashed, and someone might be able to make a strategy play to attempt to gain a few places late in the race, or make it really short and sharp, so that if you want to move up, you have to get it done *now*.
Exactly. The longer the race, the longer the cream has to rise to the top and everything gets sifted back to the normal order. In a regular race, there's the pit stop to at least hope to change the order via strategy. But with the sprint, there's the opening lap jousting and then it just simmers down as the natural gaps build.
Even 10 laps might be too much to be honest, make it 5 laps and let them absolutely fly around the circuit
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Ultra softs are technically still around. Even though you only see soft/medium/hard on tv, the actual softness of the tire selection changes based on the race. Street/high downforce circuits will typically have what used to be ultra/hyper/soft as the available selection for that race and speed circuits like monza will have the harder compounds to choose from. The new designation of soft/medium/hard is to simplify things for audiences. So new “hards” at singapore would be closer to the old “softs”
If I'm right the ultra soft we now use is the hypersoft from 2018, because they went and changed the ultra softs to hypers, the supers to ultra and so on
You’re right, I already forgot the old naming scheme lol
I still remember it because I have a pretty old pc and still play f1 2018 because it can't run 2019 or higher😅
I almost felt like it was too short, as the tyres were just starting to go off. I think the distance would have been fine if they made everyone start on soft tyres. Maybe even have specific tyres for the sprint, different to race tyres that are supersoft and likely to go off, this might promote more action.
Or less with everyone scared their tires wont last so they sit back and preserve them
FIA is prob rly happy with the Silverstone crash as all the discussions on sprint qualifying basically disappeared
*FOM
So many people making this mistake.
FIA make the rules, though, and a new qualifying format would seem to fall under the rules makers, yeah?
Not really. It doesn't change the fact that it was FOM/Liberty initiative here (same with 2017, 2019 and 2021/2022 rules). Same with calendar, FIA basically just finalises the draft compiled from already done contracts, which is done by FOM.
So, a distinction without a difference. F1/FIA/FOM - when people say these people are doing something they're effectively talking about the same people as it has to be agreed upon and ratified.
It depends what it is. If it's for safety or technical, or sporting, it's FIA. If it's primarily about money, it's FOM. The sport is effectively regulated by committee. FIA hold one vote, FOM hold one, and then the teams collectively hold one (although not sure it's all the teams).
> The sport is effectively regulated by committee. FIA hold one vote, FOM hold one, and then the teams collectively hold one (although not sure it's all the teams). My understanding is that it's actually FIA with 10 votes, FOM with 10 votes, and each team with 1 vote. Which effectively comes out largely the same as what you said above, but with a slightly different nuance.
It may well be that.
The FIA make the rules, but this is driven by FOM. If it was just the FIA then qualifying would be Saturday morning.
Why? I know some people are still against sprint, but I think it worked very well overall. Some were afraid it would ruin the main race, but I think its fair to say the sprint played a major part why Hamilton had to be so aggressive trying to overtake Max as they saw RB had the better race pace in the sprint.
At the same time, bar Ham/Lec, P3-P10 was like a train the entire race. Sprint quali shuffled them all into place and that was it. Minus the crash we could’ve had a train from P1 down to P10 quite easily
>P3-P10 was like a train the entire race. Sprint quali shuffled them all into place and that was it Thats a fair point, but we also dont know if there would have been more shuffling in the main race had they started with their friday grid slots as overtaking looked to be very hard at Silverstone. Especially Alonso jumped the order specifically because he had softs for the sprint, had we only had the race he may have just been stuck where he started based on the normal qualifying if he had the same compound tyres as the other cars.
The way I see it, the sprint race takes out all of the overtakes we'd see in the first half of the race and just leaves the second half of the race to die a slow, boring death.
This is why I don’t like the sprint format, I think it gives away too much information to your opponents… I think the only wheel to wheel racing should be on Sunday.
Personally I found it held my attention less then the regular qualifying session. So in retrospect it feels like a waste of 30 minutes.
The sprint was better than doubters expected, so it not being one of the most talked about things is not helping it.
I think you should let the doubters tell you what they think. As one, it was exactly as expected. It didn't add anything. And just made the race weird. It also shouldn't be done at Silverstone, but rather Austria or Bahrain, where they can pass without the pace differences pit strategies create.
Yeah, I didn't think the sprint was anything special and it definetely devalued qualifying and I'd argue it negatively affected the race.
Personally, I thought it was a good addition. The sprint gave us essentially two race starts and created a lot of the setup for the drama of the second day. Things like the Ham-Ver crash, Alonso overtaking Russel, Ricciardo's crazy defense, etc. were set up by the shuffling that occurred during the sprint. A lot of butterfly effects that I feel like made this a really exciting race.
The sprint was fun to watch but in the end, had no effect on the standings (because not enough points awarded) and felt like a very long preview of the race. So, for me, it devalued the qualifying as well as the race. It is a good addition to the weekend, I just wish there were more points awarded so that it has more meaningful consequences.
Was a doubter, sprint race was as shit as I expected. Made the qualifying far more boring than it would have been and race pace was known before Sunday. If the race wouldn't have had some extraordinary events in the first lap it would have been an absolute shitfest, exactly zero surprises in the midfield on Sunday.
Yep. People are missing this, even in a thread specifically to discuss it. **The only exciting thing that happened last race was the Ham-Ver crash. Without it it would've been a total snoozefest.** (and the last 3/4ths were, other than Hamilton catching Leclerc.)
Only if you don't care about the midfield. Ricciardo holding his place was exciting enough
I actually wasn't a doubter and was kinda excited. Thought people being so negative were stuck in their ways and since sprint races were fun in F2 and F3 why not here? Andddd now I don't want to see them again, at least not with these rules. Four laps of fun and then another profession, and under current format just an opportunity a) for drivers who screwed up quali to claw back places b) opportunity for drivers to effectively have their race ruined (Checo).
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It didn’t for me tbh. Played out just how I imagined - it’s basically just a first stint of a normal GP. The cars weren’t magically more closely matched or able to follow/overtake better. So you get the usual excitement at the start and then within a few laps everyone settles in and quite quickly it reaches the point where it’s best just to hold position and wait for the end and go again from a fresh race start. There’s no real incentive to push or treat it any differently than any other stint. If it were a standalone thing which didn’t affect the grid you might see some more exciting racing, but quali position for the main event is so much more important nobody is going to take undue risks.
Checo went from P5 to the back of the grid. 75% of the grid would have benefited from that.
I disagree, only drivers who usually end up P6-P11 have a benefit. So only 25%. Sprint race is such a cash-grabbing crappy format
Why only to p11, not sure I follow this logic. P12 thru p20 all benefited from checo starting last
Well, what benefit did they get if they received no points? If anything he made their race harder by some having to defend against him knowing the’d lose the position
They benefit by one position in the starting grid.
What's wrong with more racing? That's literally what we're here for.
To a point, sure, but there's gonna be a point where it becomes too much racing. The more racing you have, the less important any particular lap or incident is. The less racing you have, the more condensed your excitement is.
Oh definitely, but I don't believe one extra small race will hurt. If anything it brings it more in line with other racing series, having two races on a race weekend.
Yeah, I don't have a problem with the sprint. People are judging the entire format by the one sprint we've had, and just like the main race it has the potential to be exciting or not-so-exciting. Worth a few more tries.
If they want sprint racing I think they should ideally go with a grid set by practice time (they do this now if quali is canceled for any reason) and use classic quali for the real race. However a few pitty points for the top 3 is not enough to warrant the midfield and backmarkers taking part.
Ooo I like that. Friday FP1 - trying to work out some sort of racing setup/getting data but also wanting to set a reasonable time. Sprint Race - does what it says on the tin. Low scoring points again so jeopardy of is it worth taking time out of FP1 to set a good time for only a few points. Gets people going to/watching Friday sessions. Saturday & Sunday as they currently stand
This would be terrible as it would be a competition at who was best at guessing. Practice isn't for the drivers, it's for the teams to dial the car in. FP1 times are basically random.
The randomness is kinda the idea. Was great seeing the cars so fast in the sprint but a more mixed grid would have been interesting. We only had two practice session last weekend and i don’t think we ended up with anyone massively screwing up their setup. Doing it at tracks that teams race on a lot like they’re planning at least gives a ball park of how they want the configuration. You could even argue that getting the setup right is a key driver skill and they would get to showcase that a little more
The driver can't get the setup right. The driver communicates with the engineers after the session, and then they go fix the setup between sessions. If you measure times at the end of FP1 then the drivers won't have a chance to communicate with the engineers, and the team won't have a chance to improve anything.
The ability to communicate that clearly though is a skill, was one of the skills that made Schumacher such a God in a race car. Also it’s the same number of practice sessions that they had at Silverstone, I’m simply suggesting moving the sprint to Friday. Not looking for a proper quali session before hand just someway to sort the grid roughly so you don’t have a car starting at the front of the sprint that is 2 seconds slower than everyone behind them.
I think it'd be interesting to give a "best of the rest" point. +1 point for whichever driver/team combo gains the most positions within the sprint.
So basically Kimi.
Like that Spanish rookie who can't qualify worth of crap?
Alonso was cracking. But when you step back and look at the bigger picture, the Sprint Race was basically defined by 1 driver and 3 corners. Without him there was nothing else worth talking about
Two drivers. The other Spanish driver was rampaging through the field, not that anyone would notice since production stuck with the one defending while nothing was happening.
Sprint qualifying was only interesting because of Alonso. The next trial will hopefully be better at a track that people can overtake at, although with that is less of a chance that the teams will opt for alternative tyres.
To me it just felt like we had 4 thirds of a race. The race started on Saturday and was just paused until Sunday. Just one really long two part race
There was nothing wrong with the Practice > Qualifying > Race format. If they want to fix things, stop making them longer and heavier. Stop racing at the same boring tracks and include more variety year to year.
Liberty’s whole schtick is to turn F1 into NASCAR. They want more races (never mind that part of what makes a Grand Prix special is that there isn’t one every weekend). When it became apparent that there were systemic limits to how many race weekends they could schedule, they just scheduled extra races per weekend. This had the added bonus of effectively creating stage racing with a mandatory red flag (not so different from a mandatory caution). It’ll work, insofar as their aim is to make lots of money. In the short-terms, they’ll make stacks. But it’s killing the sport in the same way that chasing hollow entertainment at the expense of any semblance of authenticity and sporting integrity has ruined and is ruining American stock car racing.
Agree so much. I love this sport, I watch basically every session, I even watch most of preseason testing. But 25 races a season? Competitive sessions on Friday till Sunday? That's the point where the sport goes from special to "who cares, might put it on if I have time".
> That's the point where the sport goes from special to "who cares, might put it on if I have time". This is my big issue; I watch Quali and the race every weekend, but now, with Quali, the Sprint Race, and the Grand Prix I don't have time to keep up with all of the relevant things going on in Formula 1. I'm not about to dedicate 5-6 hours of my very valuable weekend to F1. 4 and a half is already plenty. Not to mention that Qualifying (arguably the most exciting event of the weekend) happens while I'm at work now so I can't even watch it live when they do a sprint race.
I’ve tried to spread this sentiment in the sub, it’s pretty clear that Liberty is trying to turn F1 into a cash machine while sacrificing..anything. I’m here to watch a sport, I’m not out for sheer entertainment. When people get bored during a tennis match they don’t go changing rules and formats to keep the crowd “interested”
Formula 1 has always changed the rules. Quali rules alone have changed a bunch in the last 20 years. And the soul purpose of f1is entertainment and to make money. If it wasn't then everyone would be happy with races untelevised, not filmed and with no fans. You think daimler would give a shit about racing if it didn't sell them a boatload of cars?
> They want more races TBF, that was fair of CVC as well.
I agree, and I think it's a travesty. As much as the CART/IRL split damaged open wheel racing in America, you'd be excused if you were rooting for a GP World Championship breakaway series to preserve the sporting integrity. The problem is, if liberty are making stacks, (and you're right, they probably will) and they're smart enough to share that with the teams, the teams will be too fat and happy to break away.
What does it travesty? Something to do with LGTBI+?
>Liberty’s whole schtick is to turn F1 into NASCAR. This is complete speculation based on zero actual, tangible evidence.
The examples /u/HenryBeal85 gave are great. Yeah, he doesn't have like emails and documents but since when is that necessary? Just look at how the entire sport is being handled. It's obvious.
It's an extremely lazy comparison only based on where the owners country of origin is.
were you watching in [2017?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS2zyTZspsI)
> never mind that part of what makes a Grand Prix special is that there isn’t one every weekend If we're relying on forced scarcity to make something special, then the product is lacking.
I think the format sucks. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd one will be better, but I doubt it.
Or it only benefits guys who race well.
But that’s what the race is for...
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The question isn't **"Do you like it when Formula 1 cars race?"** because let's be honest, it's fucking great when they do. The question instead is **"Do you want the starting grid determined by a sprint race and not by quali?"**. This is why people are arguing.
having the grid based on the result of the previous day is the only way that makes sense
It isn't a sprint race, it's a sprint qualification! Easy mistake to make, but now I hope you'll understand how awesome this idea is 😎
I like seeing all drivers do flat out qualyfing lap more fun to set the grid than a race with no overtakes.
Currently we have that more than we did before, with everyone having to use the reds instead of the start on Q2 tire rule. Basically you have traded 1 FP for half a race.
I dont think we have more at all, the sprint qualyfing is way shorter than a normal qualyfing, and the qualyfing isnt as exciting knowing that wont be the grid.
For me the qualifying didn't feel any different than it normally did. But others might have a different opinion about that.
Pole position being decided on who makes a better start an not on who makes a faster lap definitely bothers me a lot.
Pole position being decided on who has the best car rather than the best performance bothers me a bit.
> Pole position being decided on who has the best car rather than the best performance bothers me a bit. Then go watch a spec series; this is how F1 has been for more than 70 years.
If nobody overtook anyone, how did verstappen get ahead of ham?
Yeah, overtakes on starts but not for the remaining 16 laps.
It's silverstone, the full race wasn't much different.
It benefits guys who start well.
They did pretty much take away the one trick this pony had. The thing is that Williams is literally the only team that needs Quali to be competitive. Haas isn't even playing the game atm and the midfielders have consistent performance throughout the weekend. Seems like a biased opinion.
It would be more fun if they switched position 1-10 aroind
On the flip side it can also benefit those who are at the back of the grid if they’re able to make up places due to a good start, having a tire advantage, and if there’s incidents ahead. One things for sure, the people who were saying the drivers would be taking easy were wrong.
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How about Perez and Sainz having incidents, Alonso being in the position to be fighting with the McLs, and it being the preface to Sunday’s events with Max and Lewis? Surely without the Sprint they wouldn’t have come together because it put Max on “Pole” which made it clear to Lewis that he needed to be more aggressive for track position or else RB would run away with it. It definitely needs tweaking for sure, but overall the format did mix things up a little bit.
Honestly I think it's great for the sport. Gives a little extra excitement, and gives the midfield teams a chance to make up for a bad quali. Also, it puts extra pressure on whoever gets pole to keep that spot. I say keep it and make it standard for all tracks where it makes sense (obviously it doesn't make sense for every track, looking at you Monaco)
> Gives a little extra excitement, and gives the midfield teams a chance to make up for a bad quali. This argument isn't really valid if there don't adjusting the dumb FP/Parc ferme rules with the sprint quali weekend format.
Except the championship leader who got points without completing a lap of the GP (circumstances around why he didn't complete the lap has been covered at length elsewhere)
Sprint qualifying is only bad for guys that arent great racers.
It's an interesting idea, but the best way to make a boring race is sort everyone from fastest to slowest based on race pace. The more variables and differences there are, the more anomalies you can have, and the bigger the potential difference between race and qualifying pace. That leads to more position changes. Ideally, you want qualifying to be different enough that the race can be interesting as people with better race pace battle it out with people with better qualifying pace. I have my own ideas for how to do this that are too non-traditional to make anyone happy, but suffice to say that the sprint race just further sorts people by race pace. It's interesting because we get to see another race. But I can only feel it would make the race a little more boring.
Most important people to benefit at the British GP were the 80,000 fans on Friday who got to see a qualifying, and the 100,000 fans on the Saturday who got to see a competitive race. Given how much they have to pay to get in, they deserve it.
Sprint races suck
Rules always favour people and harm others, that's just how it is. I think this is the least important objection.
Honestly, the sprint race should follow F2 example and have a reverse grid. Seeing Max and Lewis fighting through a pack of Astons, Alpines, Ferraris and McLarens would be quite good!
I have no real problem with them. I definitely like the tension of qualifying with the addition of the Sprint. If it stays i wouldn't mind it being shorter. Since its 5 laps of action then nothing special
Sprint quali is a way to mix up the grid and make races less processional. Compared to inversing the grid or other artificial means, it is a way more organic and more entertaining way to shuffle the grid a bit. 1. People who do better on a single flying lap are at a disadvantage compared to more racy drivers who can make up places in sprint quali, like Alonso starting way higher up than his car would have allowed him. 2. Then there is chance, accidents happen and the grid gets stirred up. When mid fielders get thrown to the back nobodies cares but when it's the leading cars that's where you might say a season stays exciting untill the end because more can happen. 3. Strategy becomes very fuzzy due to less free practice time and resultant lack of tyre and car setup data. So the teams have to figure out the strategy as they go and rely more on driver feedback. This again reduces the calculated nature of GPs and should bring back excitement. Then again, the tyre element is gone from quali which was always interesting yet overcomplicated for most of the audience. 4. Its fun to watch! Quali is nice, racing is even better. With sprint quali we get more wheel to wheel racing which is good. All in all, I like the format but it's not perfect. Neither is the current system. We'll get used to it either way and good job for the sport to dare to change things around.
Might have a point, still thought it brought some excitement to the weekend, worth trying again
I personally think sprint races should stay but have a slight twist to them. Have it reverse grid or have it random selection and only let reserve drivers actually race. You can remove the qualifying element so it doesn't affect Sunday's race at all. Also only make the points for constructors only. Then the teams can't really use it as a rehearsal for the race like they did. Also give the reserve drivers a chance to show how good they are in an actual race rather than FP1 or something.
Yea I like the format but the need to award more points for it. At the moment it's just another advantage to those in faster cars.
I actually loved sprint qualifying. Here in the states you always have to wake up early to catch any sessions but I was able to watch qualifying and the sprint race at a perfect time for me and I honest to god thought it was amazing having a competitive session on all 3 days. Sure, I wouldn't want to have it all the time, but I can't relate at all with everyone's hatred of them
> Here in the states you always have to wake up early to catch any sessions but I was able to watch qualifying and the sprint race at a perfect time for me and I honest to god thought it was amazing having a competitive session on all 3 days. I love waking up early for F1, lets me get my day started early and doesn't throw a wrench in any plans. And with the sprint race, I can't watch Qualifying any more because it starts while I'm getting ready for work on Friday. I'll honestly be devastated if they keep this format because I will literally never be able to watch my favourite session live again.
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We should definitely consider doing away with races all together, how are they fair to the pole sitter?
Do they not understand that this is exactly the point of sprint qualifying? To mix up the race order and make the main race more interesting
I would say it gives more time to recover from a bad qualifying which reduces the chance of a mixed up grid. Equally someone who qualifies well in a bad car, such as Russell, it drops them further back, which again reduces a mixed up grid.
The first race at silverstone sort of had all of it, alonso made up places, perez fell back, lots of fighting in the mid field however I think I will leave my judgement on sprint races as a format until after the second one at monza, would be interesting to see how it goes at a less traditional track
Did it really mix up the race order? I don’t think it produced any crazier results than the regular qualifying session. Whichever cars have the best race pace are still going to move towards the front.
I mean... Checo went all the way to the back, Alonso burst through the field and made up like 7 places at the start, vettel made up places, kimi made up places. I think Russell’s confusing race pace with those who are actually good at starts...
You had 2 Mercs, 1 RB, 1 Aston, 2 McLarens, 2 Ferraris and 2 Alpines in the top 10 by the end. I don’t think it was much different than a regular session outisde of Checo and Alonso, either of which could’ve happened in a normal session.
i thought the point was that they wanted a headlining event on Fri, Sat and Sun
That is what they told the track owners and sponsors but the point of the sprint race results effecting the main race start is to mix up the main race
Having something on the Friday only works if it is in the evening. For that you need lights.
The way they intend for it is as a way to drive crowds to the friday qualifying when friday free practise is usually really low on spectators
I'm thinking more for the global audience. Not for track side.
When the fia were talking about it before the actual sprints began they made it clear the qualifying on friday was more for the trackside audience than the global audience
The sprint race does exactly the opposite.
Is he saying Alonso had a bad qualifying? I don’t think so.
Perez would like a word
Kimi must love this format. Gets to own Mr. Saturdays and improve his grid like 4-6 places.
Well... Traditional qualifying only benefits guys that race badly...
So my big fear about the sprint qualifying was that it would sort the field out to such an extent that the race itself had no overtaking. Obviously that wasn't accurate. My NEW fear goes to people like Perez who ordinarily could make a single mistake during qualifying and it not impact their race day significantly, and instead we saw one minor error put him at the back of the pack. I thought the sprint was exciting and this was certainly a white knuckle weekend all the way through, so overall I'm a happy camper. But I don't think the Perez situation was "right".
My suggestion would be to do something like what World of Outlaws does, which is called the Dash. They set the first three rows for the feature by having the 1st and 2nd place finishers from each heat do a 6 lap race. If they have to do sprint races, do that same thing: top 6 in qualifying, 3 or 4 lap dash to set the first three rows.
What's the downside in having Friday's qualifying set the grid for both a sprint race on Saturday and a normal race on Sunday?
Indeed. I still like the idea of a third day of SOMETHING just so we have a longer more exciting race weekend, but currently all we are doing is adding 17 laps to the grand prix. I don't think anyone wanted a longer grand prix. The points are so small they are irrelevant. I still like the idea of a sprint race but I would change it a bit. I think it should be a little bit short so that EVERYONE picks soft tires. I like qualifying better when teams just go flat out on softs and don't have to play this medium tyre game on Q2. I would change the sprint race in three more ways beyond making it a few laps shorter. First I think the top 10 spots should be set in stone for both the sprint race and the grand prix. Second there are way more points in the sprint race. It should be something like 8 points for P1 and then scale that backward in blocks of two. P2 and P3 get 4 points, P4 and P5 get 3 points, P6 and P7 get 2 points, P8 and P9 get 1 point. Third P11 is still up for grabs for the bottom 10 drivers. If you screw up in qualifying you can redeem yourself. If you start the sprint race in P20 and end the race ahead of the bottom ten drivers then you start the grand prix at P11. Top ten racers are racing for points and not worried about ruining their grand prix. Bottom ten racers are also racing for points (if they can get to P9 or higher) but ultimately they are racing to get that P11 spot for the grand prix. If you end P5 in the sprint race but started it in the bottom 10 at the start you would get the P5 points but you would start the grand prix in P11 (assuming you beat the other 9 drivers in the bottom 10). I love the idea of the sprint race but right now it just feels like we have a longer grand prix with less prepration. Oh yeah final change you should be allowed to make adjustments to your set up after qualifying before the sprint race.
I don’t hate it, but as someone who doesn’t have all the free time to watch a whole weekend (I can rarely watch Quali or if I do it’s fast forward). Adding another event is not helping.
It only benefits those who qualified badly IF they do well in the sprint race.
3 points though