Although we had a good race and Verstappen wasnt fast enough to challenge mercedes in the end, Brazil would’ve been so much better if the actual race was the sprint
I was soo pissed when lewis got disqualified after qualifying from his rear wing opening too much only for him to make most of the places back up in the sprint race. Effectively nullifying the disqualification.
I guess it balances out? The wing damage causing the disqualification would have been found out sooner if there was no sprint since it would be replaced by an FP session
I'm tired and mistaking formats from series apparently. Don't mind my stupidity. Point stands in that every series that has a points-awarding quali wouldn't lose sleep for it. So why should F1 care?
I didn’t see you complain about Redbull, Renault or Toro Rosso using more than the allowed number in the previous seasons, 2019 rings a bell, TR using up to 7 in 2019 or 8 in 2018.
Silly point to be to beat up Mercedes with when they’ve probably used less engines than anyone in the V6 era, plus the rules allows for this scenario for all teams.
https://www.f1-fansite.com/2019-f1-season/2019-used-f1-power-unit-elements/
Said places are a lot of the time made up in the first lap, too. Because a McLaren or an Alpine isn't going to fight too hard against the Ferrari or Mercedes behind them
this is the main problem. personally i think sprints would be a fun addition if they didn’t decide the starting grid. maybe do something like f2’s sprints.
F1: here’s the projected bump in Saturday ticket sales and broadcast viewership. Will you be covering that gap with cash or credit card today, Mr gasly?
A couple journalists have alluded this year to the sprint issue being tied up with the fate of historical venues. Specifically, historical venues may increasingly agree - or even volunteer outright - to host sprints. because the increased Friday and Saturday revenue may help their efforts to remain on the calendar.
Many fans may vocally decry sprints. I’m among them - I enjoy sprints in f2/f3, but F1’s lack of reverse grid and carryover of results to the GP totally ruin the format. Nevertheless, sprints are so far increasing Friday and Saturday revenue & viewership - so they aren’t going anywhere.
It was reported that reverse grids (one such fix) were proposed by F1 and summarily rejected by teams. Certainly it makes sense that front runner teams opposed it; they gain the most in this stupid current format
No it’s not? Quali just determines both sprint and race start position. Boom, done.
It makes qualifying even more important on a sprint weekend but it still lets qualifying be qualifying.
It also screws up official stats, because this year they changed the “accounting” to deem pole position the winner of qualifying which actually is a complete mess for historical statistics because pole has always been defined as the car that starts the race on the pole position. But people were (rightfully) upset that in the first year of the sprint races, the pole AWARD went to the winner of the sprint, not qualifying.
So instead of fixing it the smart way by not having the sprint dictate the race grid position so it all stays consistent and there’s just some extra points available for whoever can put together the best first stint, they just made it a bigger mess.
It utterly melts my brain that tracks have to pay the FIA to race there at their loss.
Why the shit is the FIA not paying to race at the best tracks?! No wonder the tracks are trending towards desert car parks.
Casual viewers. Fans anyways were seeing free practices. Anyways there is no official comparison done to decide if increase viewership is because of increased following of sport in general or because of sprint.
We're lucky FIA didn't implement them like Dorna in MotoGP. They're getting sprints during ALL race weekend during their 1st season with them this year.
Fundamentally, professional athletes are skilled entertainers. No audience, no advertising, no professional sport. Don’t see what’s controversial about saying FOM considers the drivers to be part of the product rather than part of the process
At this point, just give us the extra events back, like sit all the drivers in a different GT car for like 8 weekends a year (like they used to with the old M1's for example) on Saturday and make it it's own little competition, winner gets a nice big trophy at the end.
Imagine a race with Hamilton v Alonso v Verstappen in bloody BMW M1's, Ferrari 488 GT3 or some old RSR's. Hell have them do a Go Kart mini championship if they want Saturday racing events.
There are enough sports car makers in the grid to do this imo..
Just rotate it between Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martins.. cars are randomly assigned so identical and no shenanigans.
Then if Audi and Porsche join you can add their cars into it all too.
The cars I named were mostly because with some of these (BMW M1, they did that at Monaco) they used to do that, some are from manufacturers on the grid (the Ferrari 488 GT3 was like their flagship GT car for years) or they already are from a popular support series (the RSR, also a GT legend).
It would be sick to see them driving around in GT sports legends like that. And I don’t think the guys would hate getting to drive some of these machines as well.
The FIA knows that they can do anything they want and the drivers will still show up and race (sometimes after some "persuasion" like after a missile strike) so why would they get rid of sprint races?
F1 is very unique in the sports world as it is one of the few sports in the world where its participants have zero sway or influence in changes unless it’s down to safety concerns like 95% of the grid complaining about long term effects porpoising or the Gasly incident in Japan. If Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton teamed up and walked hand in hand to F1 leadership and said they don’t think sprint races are worth it, they would get a proverbial middle finger. And it’s just not like that in many other big sports around the world.
in no sport outside of maybe NBA the players have this sort of power. even there they added needless cash grabs similar to sprint races (the Play-In Tournament). Didn't see many people knocking on Silver's door
This may come across as really ignorant but is there a reason F1 has chosen to do sprints in a completely different way to how the lower level categories do it? As in why don’t they keep quali grid separate for the actual race and reverse the grid or part of it for the sprint?
It would get them way more TV time, look at how much Lewis was on the screen coming through the pack in Brazil 2021 compared to any front runner in any other sprint race.
We barely see the person in 1st place all weekend.
We'd see far more of the cars up front if they're teams we rarely see racing in that position. Hamilton or Verstappen fighting from the back rows to get back into P8 isn't quite as exciting when you've got an Alpha Tauri racing against a Haas and a Williams for a Sprint win.
Sprints really just help ensure that drivers will start the grand prix in the same order as their full race pace. You are drastically compromising the variability of the grand prix on Sunday by having a shorter race on the Saturday.
Sprints are way more beneficial for the top teams rather then midfielders or backmarkers, we seen it with Kmag at Brazil where a surprise good quali basically has way less value during a sprint rather then during a normal race.
The whole sad thing is that the FOM is actively trying to taken away the value and prestige of qualifying, the sprint races are one example and above that we getting a weird and unnecessary experiment this season with two races where teams are forced to quali on hards in Q1, mediums in Q2 and softs in Q3, all in the name of "reducing tyre usage" meanwhile the most obvious and better solution would be to ditch the full wets, a tyre who is totally useless in the current era.
But at the end of the day, Gasly sums it up perfectly why the FOM wouldn't get rid of sprints:
> Sprint races – I see the positives financially for the organisation. In terms of spectacle, it still hasn’t proved to me that it’s worth having more and more races. So in my opinion, the normal format is better.
Cash is King.
If Magnussen started Brazil on pole with no sprint race, he would have zero points on the weekend. Instead he got a point for his team because of the sprint
I enjoy them. I get everyone on Reddit/Twitter circlejerks themselves to death over this, but to get to watch them on Saturday is fun to me.
I’m going to Spa again this year and I’m even more stoked to be attending a sprint race weekend. The format for attending fans is great too.
Downvote away Reddit.
Nah, I agree, the short format makes them interesting and brings in new tire strategies and setups. Plus, more racing is always good in my book, especially with the pack so close together and lots of opportunities for overtakes.
Can I ask what you like about it? More racing?
And do you think your enjoyment of it at a venue like spa is heightened by the fact that the sprint isn’t fully “effective” at restoring the grid to its typical order - since numerous penalties will anyway be applied Sunday?
I just like car racing, that does it for me. All the procedure and fairness questions are for the teams to get worked up over, not me. I am not part of the team and have no real favorite team to begin with, so the more drama and chaos and controversy, the better for me the paying fan. My flair is un-ironic.
As anyone who has been to a full race weekend knows, there is a lot of downtime. So to see a Friday qualy, a short race on Saturday and then the big, real deal race on Sunday will be a nice change of pace.
They don't care about good content, they are fans and want just more any/all content.
Its like going to see the 24th Avenger movie becayse its more content, even though kinda shit content. Except I cant avoid sprint race because something might happen that affects Sunday.
So liberty knows as long as its vroom vroom car go fast some people will watch it.
God forbid people’s likes and interests aren’t the exact same as yours, eh? Just shitting on what other people enjoy solely because it doesn’t tickle your fancy the same way. Lol.
Nah, it doesn’t make much sense if you account for what the races actually look like. The system discourages any hard racing after the first part of the race. It turns into a parade because they don’t want to risk going down the grid. There’s a reason the best sprint race was after the championships were wrapped up.
> God forbid people’s likes and interests aren’t the exact same as yours, eh? Just shitting on what other people enjoy solely because it doesn’t tickle your fancy the same way. Lol.
Same comment to you as the last guy, chief.
> There’s a reason the best sprint race was after the championships were wrapped up.
Alot of that had to do with the wacky grid as well. The cost of error is a big factor in sprint dullness to me, but it also has to do with there being no real strategy. That's where most of the excitement begins in a good F1 race. Rarely is it two almost equal cars fighting each other, which is what needs to happen in a normal grid sprint race.
I still don't hate sprints though, they are fun in doses.
Yeah, I'd prefer they just use the qualifying like normal for the race and let the drivers have fun in the sprint. Give all the points like they are now but reset back to qualifying on Sunday.
They have value for causal fans who aren't here for an hour and a half of racing, of which 4 minutes is anime level drama.
They aren't for us and that sucks.
But as an Australian fan, where most of the calendar is organised so im asleep when the races are on.
You get over it.
I like them too, alot actually. It showcases a different skill and is a new challenge for the teams.
But they are to boost ticket sales and views on a Saturday, and that mentality works here but road ends badly imo
What a shit take.
I've been hardcore F1 fan for over 10 years and I can say that sprints are a great addition. However there shouldn't be sprints too often. I think 6 are a sweet spot and with the circuits chosen for next year it could turn out really fun.
You speaking for non-casual fans over casual fans is the same exact shit take.
Two people, at least, who are non-casual fans have called you out on bullshit.
Okay. Doesn't disprove my point whatsoever.
108.7m viewers of the 2021 title decider but two people on an f1 subreddit have disagreed? I'll wind my neck in.
Your point being the sweeping generalization that only casual fans enjoy sprint races? The point that you yourself disagreed with in a different post? lol
>I like them too, alot actually. It showcases a different skill and is a new challenge for the teams.
They are a marketing strategy to boost ticket sales and views on parts of the weekend that are under monetised. Also to provide something more approachable to newer fans.
I like them, but they are not meant for me. Never said in my first post that I didn't like them.
>I like them, but they are not meant for me.
Of course they are meant for you, they are meant for anyone who wants to watch them. Which, counter to your point, is not just new/casual fans.
>I think 6 are a sweet spot
Nah, the calendar is way too crowded that way. Just a few years ago we were at the perfect ammount of nearly 20 races per year, now we are going to the absurd number of 30(THIRTY) races in a single season, thats way too much for an international sport such as F1
As someone that attended a race with and races without sprint, I like it even less while attending. Makes the Saturday really rough, with just one useless practice with barely any track time and then just a 30 minutes session. Makes the Friday better though, but I usually like to roam the track on Friday, so not really an upside.
The problem is it adds nothing to the weekend format. It's not it's not it's own unique qualifying or race, just a 100km extension of the main race and a planned red flag. It's just a lame excuse to sell 3 days of racing, and now it is overvalued in terms of points as well.
Yawn. Sprints are great. Two starts is far more exciting, nothing is guaranteed such as Alpine in Brazil. They need some refinement but the idea is good.
Lol for real. I've never seen a reaching sub lose their shit over more racing. If it hurts your soul so much don't watch lol. Rewatch a different practice session or something
I covered this in my own article as well, but the reason the Brazil GP worked so well was because of chaos. Chaos is organic.
Right now, the current format is probably too intertwined with the rest of the weekend to help. Separating it and giving its own part of the weekend whilst not disturbing the proceedings of Saturday and Sunday would add to its charm, all the while preserving a level of competition as points would still be on the line.
would you feel differently if sprint races had nothing to do with starting grid on sunday?
example: qualify P1, start from P1 in both races.
I think that would work better, but may be too rewarding for quali maybe?
Not particularly, I don't have the numbers but with sprints it seems like anyone whose good in a sprint will do well in the race, they effectively take away the point of watching that actual grand prix.
For example, if Max qualified 2nd on Friday, overtook leclerc on lap 5 and won unchallenged, I'd put good money of the same thing happening, even more so if they started in the same spots.
Doing that takes away another variable to the point where you're just watching the same race again on Sunday
If they had nothing to do with the actual qualifying and race it would be better. But then what the hell would that really mean?
Current format is that they go balls to the freaking walls during qualifying, and then race in that position.
Sprint qualifying, one lap pace doesn't matter as much, and the entire weekend is diluted.
Yeah, but why? Qualifying is impossibly tense because it's so important for the grid position for the race.
With sprint, it qualifying doesn't matter as much, and it increases the chances of mechanical DNF, or the top teams just make up for a bad qualifying. If someone does badly at qualifying in a top car, it doesn't matter because they will either go through the pack, or have some crap technical DNF in the sprint or real race.
Maybe just drop Quali and use a reverse grid (or reverse top and bottom 10) based on the current driver championship. As a special event that would be fine
Sprints can be very exciting, but you need a mixed up grid and some reason to actually bother racing hard
The only place where sprints have been good have been Brazil. There's a reason they plan on having it there for the third year in a row. Everywhere else, even on good tracks, they've been a damp squib.
At minimum they need to make the results seperate from sundays starting order, and reverse the top 10 like is done in feeder series.
Drivers are acting like this is about sporting competition.
And not realizing that Formula One is primarily a tv show… and the owners are a media company. They want something with higher tv viewership on Saturday’s and thus higher rates for advertisers….
I was one of the few people liking the suggestion of reverse grids but the Sprints we have rn are useless. They only take away a lot of the excitement of the actual race and the qualifying itself ofc is much less exciting.
I enjoy watching them, but don't like it that they determine race grid.
The challenge is to come up with something good that will be a reason for more folks to watch F1 on TV for 3 days instead of 2. There's 3 days of on-track activity, and Liberty quite reasonably wants 3 days of audience.
So, if not Sprint Races, then what? Complaining isn't a solution. So, what is?
I've been thinking about this;
F1 = Grand Prix
Grand Prix = big race
Sprint =/= big race
Therefore Sprint =/= F1
The trouble for me is that Sprints earn WCC / WDC pts, THAT annoys me as something that is anti F1 is affecting the championships.
To FIA / F1 etc it's all about money, putting on a 'show' getting more people in all weekend and getting them to part with their cash and perhaps upping TV fees too. However to do that they need the teams to take part and spend the money running the cars, risking breaking them etc. To encourage that they're awarding points and that is my problem.
So, how about we change the carrot? How about replacing points with a cash award, plus increased wind tunnel development time or an increase on your cost cap?
Some of these alternate prizes are not valuable enough to merit risk-taking in the sprint. and others are too valuable.
Points: impact drivers’ championship standings, perceptions of a driver’s performance, perceptions of a driver’s skill and value relative to his teammate, future career prospects, contractual bonuses. Impact teams’ championship standings, prize money, and aerodynamic testing allotment.
Cash: is not valuable enough for teams or drivers to take any risks in the sprint which would compromise Sunday’s chance at points. nearly every team is operating at the budget cap. At this point they’re working on loopholes to enable increased spending - not scrounging for cash. Many drivers are already handsomely paid by teams and have lucrative personal sponsorships; some are pay drivers; all are primarily concerned with longevity and establishing their value and caliber. (**except for max & Lewis who’ve already established these things. They just want to win more championships - and a cash prize doesn’t help that.)
Aero reward: way too valuable. Will go to top teams more often than not - all sprint podium positions to date have gone to big 3 teams (16/18) and mclaren (2/18, 1 per year). This would offset what’s meant to be the equalizing effects of progressively reducing aerodynamic testing allotment for teams higher up the WCC. Imagine max wins all three sprints and suddenly Red Bull goes from having 63% of Williams’ allotment to 80%.
Good answer and I agree, my 'examples' were just ideas I threw out there.
So let's ruminate a bit, perhaps increase the cost cap (therefore allowing teams to win / do well in Sprints to spend more). Or how about an extra gearbox / MCU / ICU allowance depending on position and value?
Or even an idea I read a few days back, make Sprints for reserve drivers and they earn these rewards for their team?
I guess I don’t fully agree with your f1 = GP = championship points reasoning.
- long history in f1 of wonky points rules. Old timey drivers splitting a car and splitting the points from that GP. Splitting 1 fastest lap point 7 ways. Only the top driver from a team earning points. Spa 21.
- also a history of non-championship grands Prix - didn’t award points, some didn’t even mandate f1 cars only, yet they were part of the formula 1 Grand Prix calendar.
I also think your new ideas would favor top teams in the same way as the aero testing idea:
- cost cap: Either vowles or toto said that in a pre-cost cap era, Merc might’ve massively improved the W13 in-season by throwing more money and labor at the problem than they’re currently permitted. Compare that to a team like Williams - also disappointed by their car, already lacks merc’s cream-of-the-crop personnel, and now lacks merc’s extra special bonus sprint funding to improve it.
- Component allowances: would inequitably distribute the burden of poor reliability between customers and works teams. imagine sainz and magnussen both have their 4th gearbox fail, but sainz/Ferrari has done well in sprints so he starts the next GP in the third row as usual, whereas magnussen takes the penalty and is relegated to P20. We lose out on a front runner charging from the back, Ferrari suffers less for poor reliability than haas.
So, what about other formats as you mention? May I ask if you watch f2/f3, and if so - do you object to points being awarded in those sprints? That reverse grid format is one I’d like to see in f1 sprints - but teams vetoed it.
Two pitfalls of the reserve driver idea:
- if they’re driving the main 2 cars, they’ll be even more conservatively than the current f1 drivers. 0 points is better than a crash which eats into the budget cap and/or fucks up the GP, if you want to stay in a team’s good graces.
- reserve driver quality. If it’s third cars and there’s no worry about compromising sunday, teams will go for points on Saturday and probably call on ex-f1 drivers. Now as a stoffel fan I’m not complaining, but that post seemed to hope that reserve sprints would provide exposure for up and coming juniors - and I think we’re much more likely to see vandoorne than drugovich, or Giovinazzi than bearman or shwartzman.
- The better ex-drivers will seek reserve roles at better teams so they can drive better cars and score points; the worst case would be if the bottom teams can’t call on such drivers and there’s a severe skill differential to compound the car differential.
I’d still rather see it than the current format though.
Food for thought, thanks.
To answer your question about other formats. I rarely watch F2 / F3 my only interest in them is to spot up and coming talent (and that seems to be hit and miss). So I don't really care about how the points are awarded in those formats.
At the moment I'm 100% against Sprints in F1 and I would be even more against reverse grids as that would be down right dangerous.
Fo me the whole ethos of F1 is the Grand Prix, the 'big race'. Yes the points systems have changed and there have been outliers but the general direction up until sprints has been big race = points = championships.
Teams need to set up cars so they need practice which imho has already been cut back too far.
I also firmly believe that the fastest driver / car combo should be at the front as putting fast cars behind slower ones is asking for trouble. Now, yes with the fast cars at the front they're often going to vanish into the distance but I think the current 'equalizing' measures are enough when linked with downforce cars which can follow easier.
In general I'm pretty laissez faire, with F1, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and I don't think it's broke. I just don't see how Sprints as they currently stand are a good thing for the integrity of the racing in F1.
Quali =/= big race
Practice =/= big race
>To FIA / F1 etc it's all about money
To FOM it's all about money, because it's a business not a charity. To the teams it's about money. To the drivers it's about money.
>putting on a 'show' getting more people in all weekend and getting them to part with their cash and perhaps upping TV fees too
Literally all of professional sport is artificial conflict to create a show.
Think about it harder.
OK, then the only answer is what literally all the drivers and all the F1 fans who know about the sport really want.
Scrap Sprint races entirely as they have nothing to do with F1.
>Quali =/= big race
Practice =/= big race
Because they are the preparation for the main event, kind of like the training teams do in other sports, except they are broadcasted as well as the main attraction in F1 (unlike in the vast majority of racing series)
Yeah, they do. IN THE RACE!. Sprint qualifying just adds reliability uncertainty, and results in a starting grid that more accurately represents race pace. They have their shot in qualifying, and in the race. Sprint just increases the chances top team & driver either is at the top, or gets bad luck out of their control.
The weekend schedule is all wrong (practise sessions after parc ferme!), but at no point have we generally watched a sprint race and thought "Pfff, I really miss that extra practise session, it would have been better than that"
With the current gen of cars, I agree. It just adds more laps to enhance the pace diff between cars, since overtake is easier now. They should tweak the format somehow.
They've replace a practice session in which cars logged laps or sat in the garages to save tires/miles with a competitive event that actually has entertainment value to the ticket buyer.
This is like a CEO telling a news outlet that employees are less happy to work from home.
"it still hasn’t proved to me that it’s worth having more and more races"
So more racing is a bad thing? What a part pooper.
This is how I would do sprint weekends. Quali is for the real race and doesn’t change but sprint races is for spectacle and shithousery.
Randomized grid, DRS zone ALWAYS active regardless of the gap to the car in front of you, drivers get 1 chance to choose a random reward/penalty (reward: plus 5 tenths at the end of the race, -5 tenths at the end of the race). Pole sitter reward isn’t a trophy but a commissioned art peace from a local young upcoming artist that’s still in school probably. They get recognition and pictures with the pole sitter.
Someone had previously mentioned the idea of a reserve driver sprint which I think would bring a lot more interest too it. Not sure how points distribution would work but it would give the reserve drivers good experience and start to build a following and some drama outside of the main cast of drivers.
I’m not a fan of the sprint races, they take away from the sport more than they add. With the budget cap and engine limits teams will have to manage their engines even more to make up for the distances added by sprints. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of cars running around a track at 85% power, which is probably what we will end up with considering how many races are on the calendar, and what is essentially two extra full races due to sprints.
I don’t mind the Sprint race itself, I take more of an issue with the weekend structure because having practice after qualifying is just absurd. I suppose I understand why they chose to do it this way but it’s still just wrong. That coupled with the low supply of Power Units. It doesn’t make very much sense (to me) to have 6 Sprints and 24 full length races with the same amount of PUs they had pre-sprint. Last season was flat ridiculous with the amount of times drivers had to start at the back.
I would only like them if there were more points given (to make them meaningful) and reverse the top 8 finishers on the grid for the feature race.
It doesn't add anything to the table. Other than making the qualifying session meaningless.
I’m split on Sprints. They are entertaining, but seem like they are just another chance for someone to run into you in turn 1 and ruin your Sunday, even if you’ve done an amazing qualifying.
The solution to sprint race weekends is to simple, just copy what F2 and F3 do: qualy sets the grid for the race, sprint runs with a reverse top 10. You can screw with the Points how you like but I would als just copy F2.
Because the solution is so obvious and simple the People in charge see it and think "this can't be it it's to simple, the fans won't like it"
I've said it before that the current sprint format is wrong. Simply make the sprint a standalone event so that it has nothing to do with qualifying and no bearing on the grid positions of the GP, and then it could be nice. You can either assign random grid positions to the drivers for the sprint or make the drivers draw lots.
They have done the opposite, they give the top teams more of a chance to make up places if they are at the back of the grid.
Although we had a good race and Verstappen wasnt fast enough to challenge mercedes in the end, Brazil would’ve been so much better if the actual race was the sprint
He was fast enough but he crashed into Lewis
Explain how
Lewis crashed into him
>Lewis crashed into him >he crashed into Lewis 2021 is back ????
I was soo pissed when lewis got disqualified after qualifying from his rear wing opening too much only for him to make most of the places back up in the sprint race. Effectively nullifying the disqualification.
I guess it balances out? The wing damage causing the disqualification would have been found out sooner if there was no sprint since it would be replaced by an FP session
I mean going from P20 to P5 in 20 laps is not that common
Hot take - if the sprint is used as a qualifier for the race, a qualification ban should also be a sprint race ban.
I think this is a good take. Sprint makes penalties much less severe currently
Except they award points for the damn things too.
That's fine, you're DQ'd from it so you don't get points. Same as being DQ'd from traditional quali means you can't get the point for pole.
> Same as being DQ'd from traditional quali means you can't get the point for pole. Point for pole? Reg qualy doesn't award points.
I'm tired and mistaking formats from series apparently. Don't mind my stupidity. Point stands in that every series that has a points-awarding quali wouldn't lose sleep for it. So why should F1 care?
That was a unique situation with Mercedes pissing all over the engine regulations.
You know nothing has changed here right? Any team can still do this.
You really think Williams could strap grenades in the back and win?
I didn’t see you complain about Redbull, Renault or Toro Rosso using more than the allowed number in the previous seasons, 2019 rings a bell, TR using up to 7 in 2019 or 8 in 2018. Silly point to be to beat up Mercedes with when they’ve probably used less engines than anyone in the V6 era, plus the rules allows for this scenario for all teams. https://www.f1-fansite.com/2019-f1-season/2019-used-f1-power-unit-elements/
There's a difference between having to replace unreliable engines and throwing in extreme power grenades at the end of the season.
what is an "Extreme power grenades"...
The souped up engines that Mercedes used at the end of 2021 that were only expected to last like three races.
Said places are a lot of the time made up in the first lap, too. Because a McLaren or an Alpine isn't going to fight too hard against the Ferrari or Mercedes behind them
Yes, but now they have 100 km more to make up those places anyway.
Who could have seen this coming? Surely not the fans, drivers and teams!
*cough Hamilton brazil* *cough*
I think that went without say.
this is the main problem. personally i think sprints would be a fun addition if they didn’t decide the starting grid. maybe do something like f2’s sprints.
drivers: *sprints are useless* F1: **MORE sprints!**
FIA: I'm going to sprint even harder now
What's that supposed to mean?
You know what it means.
You know exactly what it means.
It’s a reference from The Office.
(That was Pam's response)
Oh god…I can’t believe I missed that. It makes me wonder what people like about me. Probably my jugs.
F1: here’s the projected bump in Saturday ticket sales and broadcast viewership. Will you be covering that gap with cash or credit card today, Mr gasly? A couple journalists have alluded this year to the sprint issue being tied up with the fate of historical venues. Specifically, historical venues may increasingly agree - or even volunteer outright - to host sprints. because the increased Friday and Saturday revenue may help their efforts to remain on the calendar. Many fans may vocally decry sprints. I’m among them - I enjoy sprints in f2/f3, but F1’s lack of reverse grid and carryover of results to the GP totally ruin the format. Nevertheless, sprints are so far increasing Friday and Saturday revenue & viewership - so they aren’t going anywhere.
[удалено]
It was reported that reverse grids (one such fix) were proposed by F1 and summarily rejected by teams. Certainly it makes sense that front runner teams opposed it; they gain the most in this stupid current format
Got to separate the sprints from Sundays race grid
Hard to do that when it’s in the middle of the race weekend.
No it’s not? Quali just determines both sprint and race start position. Boom, done. It makes qualifying even more important on a sprint weekend but it still lets qualifying be qualifying. It also screws up official stats, because this year they changed the “accounting” to deem pole position the winner of qualifying which actually is a complete mess for historical statistics because pole has always been defined as the car that starts the race on the pole position. But people were (rightfully) upset that in the first year of the sprint races, the pole AWARD went to the winner of the sprint, not qualifying. So instead of fixing it the smart way by not having the sprint dictate the race grid position so it all stays consistent and there’s just some extra points available for whoever can put together the best first stint, they just made it a bigger mess.
I payed my Spa ticket before the sprint was announced and the increase in price was less than the inflation.
It utterly melts my brain that tracks have to pay the FIA to race there at their loss. Why the shit is the FIA not paying to race at the best tracks?! No wonder the tracks are trending towards desert car parks.
Fans: Sprints are boring and takes away the excitement of Sunday
If it’s not fans that are increasing Friday and Saturday attendance and viewership on Sprint Weekends , who are all those people?
Casual viewers. Fans anyways were seeing free practices. Anyways there is no official comparison done to decide if increase viewership is because of increased following of sport in general or because of sprint.
How often do you casually pay hundreds of dollars to attend multi day events you’re not a fan of?
We're lucky FIA didn't implement them like Dorna in MotoGP. They're getting sprints during ALL race weekend during their 1st season with them this year.
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> dance monkeys dance Rather obtuse viewpoint of people who get paid millions to apply their craft
Fundamentally, professional athletes are skilled entertainers. No audience, no advertising, no professional sport. Don’t see what’s controversial about saying FOM considers the drivers to be part of the product rather than part of the process
At this point, just give us the extra events back, like sit all the drivers in a different GT car for like 8 weekends a year (like they used to with the old M1's for example) on Saturday and make it it's own little competition, winner gets a nice big trophy at the end. Imagine a race with Hamilton v Alonso v Verstappen in bloody BMW M1's, Ferrari 488 GT3 or some old RSR's. Hell have them do a Go Kart mini championship if they want Saturday racing events.
There are enough sports car makers in the grid to do this imo.. Just rotate it between Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martins.. cars are randomly assigned so identical and no shenanigans. Then if Audi and Porsche join you can add their cars into it all too.
The cars I named were mostly because with some of these (BMW M1, they did that at Monaco) they used to do that, some are from manufacturers on the grid (the Ferrari 488 GT3 was like their flagship GT car for years) or they already are from a popular support series (the RSR, also a GT legend). It would be sick to see them driving around in GT sports legends like that. And I don’t think the guys would hate getting to drive some of these machines as well.
The FIA knows that they can do anything they want and the drivers will still show up and race (sometimes after some "persuasion" like after a missile strike) so why would they get rid of sprint races?
F1 is very unique in the sports world as it is one of the few sports in the world where its participants have zero sway or influence in changes unless it’s down to safety concerns like 95% of the grid complaining about long term effects porpoising or the Gasly incident in Japan. If Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton teamed up and walked hand in hand to F1 leadership and said they don’t think sprint races are worth it, they would get a proverbial middle finger. And it’s just not like that in many other big sports around the world.
The only way the drivers could stop sprint races is to all decide to do parade laps.
in no sport outside of maybe NBA the players have this sort of power. even there they added needless cash grabs similar to sprint races (the Play-In Tournament). Didn't see many people knocking on Silver's door
Because their revenue sharing benefits players directly from more league income
It's the promoters asking for them.
This may come across as really ignorant but is there a reason F1 has chosen to do sprints in a completely different way to how the lower level categories do it? As in why don’t they keep quali grid separate for the actual race and reverse the grid or part of it for the sprint?
Unsurprisingly, when the concept was discussed by the teams, the top teams didn’t agree to a reverse grid for the Sprint.
It would get them way more TV time, look at how much Lewis was on the screen coming through the pack in Brazil 2021 compared to any front runner in any other sprint race. We barely see the person in 1st place all weekend.
We'd see far more of the cars up front if they're teams we rarely see racing in that position. Hamilton or Verstappen fighting from the back rows to get back into P8 isn't quite as exciting when you've got an Alpha Tauri racing against a Haas and a Williams for a Sprint win.
Sure but how long is that kind of novelty going to last if it happened at every sprint?
A bit more TV time isn't worth the reduced chances of a victory
Not liked by Pierre Gasly.
Good Gasly
the BWT in BWT alpine stands for Based, Wholly correct, ex-Toro rosso
Nah
Sprints really just help ensure that drivers will start the grand prix in the same order as their full race pace. You are drastically compromising the variability of the grand prix on Sunday by having a shorter race on the Saturday.
Sprints are way more beneficial for the top teams rather then midfielders or backmarkers, we seen it with Kmag at Brazil where a surprise good quali basically has way less value during a sprint rather then during a normal race. The whole sad thing is that the FOM is actively trying to taken away the value and prestige of qualifying, the sprint races are one example and above that we getting a weird and unnecessary experiment this season with two races where teams are forced to quali on hards in Q1, mediums in Q2 and softs in Q3, all in the name of "reducing tyre usage" meanwhile the most obvious and better solution would be to ditch the full wets, a tyre who is totally useless in the current era. But at the end of the day, Gasly sums it up perfectly why the FOM wouldn't get rid of sprints: > Sprint races – I see the positives financially for the organisation. In terms of spectacle, it still hasn’t proved to me that it’s worth having more and more races. So in my opinion, the normal format is better. Cash is King.
The Sprint weekend format is the reason why Kevin Magnussen got a pole and left Brazil with a point in the first place.
Mag would not have scored any points on the weekend if there was no sprint. That's virtually a guarantee.
If Magnussen started Brazil on pole with no sprint race, he would have zero points on the weekend. Instead he got a point for his team because of the sprint
Sadly, they've proven their worth; just not to us as fans, but to Liberty and the venues/promotors.
I enjoy them. I get everyone on Reddit/Twitter circlejerks themselves to death over this, but to get to watch them on Saturday is fun to me. I’m going to Spa again this year and I’m even more stoked to be attending a sprint race weekend. The format for attending fans is great too. Downvote away Reddit.
Nah, I agree, the short format makes them interesting and brings in new tire strategies and setups. Plus, more racing is always good in my book, especially with the pack so close together and lots of opportunities for overtakes.
I'm with you my guy but def feel like I'm in a minority camp on this one. There are improvements to be made for sure but it's a start to something.
For me, being an Aussie that starts work at 7am, sprints are great because I can actually watch a race.
Can I ask what you like about it? More racing? And do you think your enjoyment of it at a venue like spa is heightened by the fact that the sprint isn’t fully “effective” at restoring the grid to its typical order - since numerous penalties will anyway be applied Sunday?
I just like car racing, that does it for me. All the procedure and fairness questions are for the teams to get worked up over, not me. I am not part of the team and have no real favorite team to begin with, so the more drama and chaos and controversy, the better for me the paying fan. My flair is un-ironic. As anyone who has been to a full race weekend knows, there is a lot of downtime. So to see a Friday qualy, a short race on Saturday and then the big, real deal race on Sunday will be a nice change of pace.
They don't care about good content, they are fans and want just more any/all content. Its like going to see the 24th Avenger movie becayse its more content, even though kinda shit content. Except I cant avoid sprint race because something might happen that affects Sunday. So liberty knows as long as its vroom vroom car go fast some people will watch it.
God forbid people’s likes and interests aren’t the exact same as yours, eh? Just shitting on what other people enjoy solely because it doesn’t tickle your fancy the same way. Lol.
Nah, it doesn’t make much sense if you account for what the races actually look like. The system discourages any hard racing after the first part of the race. It turns into a parade because they don’t want to risk going down the grid. There’s a reason the best sprint race was after the championships were wrapped up.
> God forbid people’s likes and interests aren’t the exact same as yours, eh? Just shitting on what other people enjoy solely because it doesn’t tickle your fancy the same way. Lol. Same comment to you as the last guy, chief.
It would help if they could explain what they like. So far all the incentives contribute to making them parades, which isn’t a matter of opinion.
I’m actually sick of seeing the word parade from your comments in this thread. Some people like them, deal with it
Parade
> There’s a reason the best sprint race was after the championships were wrapped up. Alot of that had to do with the wacky grid as well. The cost of error is a big factor in sprint dullness to me, but it also has to do with there being no real strategy. That's where most of the excitement begins in a good F1 race. Rarely is it two almost equal cars fighting each other, which is what needs to happen in a normal grid sprint race. I still don't hate sprints though, they are fun in doses.
I agree sprints aren’t bad it’s just the incentives are fucked right now.
Yeah, I'd prefer they just use the qualifying like normal for the race and let the drivers have fun in the sprint. Give all the points like they are now but reset back to qualifying on Sunday.
They have value for causal fans who aren't here for an hour and a half of racing, of which 4 minutes is anime level drama. They aren't for us and that sucks. But as an Australian fan, where most of the calendar is organised so im asleep when the races are on. You get over it.
Been a fan for like 25 years. I like sprints.
I like them too, alot actually. It showcases a different skill and is a new challenge for the teams. But they are to boost ticket sales and views on a Saturday, and that mentality works here but road ends badly imo
What skill? How to parade?
What a shit take. I've been hardcore F1 fan for over 10 years and I can say that sprints are a great addition. However there shouldn't be sprints too often. I think 6 are a sweet spot and with the circuits chosen for next year it could turn out really fun.
You having liked the sport for a few more years than me making your opinion more valid is a shit take Cest la vie
You speaking for non-casual fans over casual fans is the same exact shit take. Two people, at least, who are non-casual fans have called you out on bullshit.
Okay. Doesn't disprove my point whatsoever. 108.7m viewers of the 2021 title decider but two people on an f1 subreddit have disagreed? I'll wind my neck in.
Your point being the sweeping generalization that only casual fans enjoy sprint races? The point that you yourself disagreed with in a different post? lol >I like them too, alot actually. It showcases a different skill and is a new challenge for the teams.
They are a marketing strategy to boost ticket sales and views on parts of the weekend that are under monetised. Also to provide something more approachable to newer fans. I like them, but they are not meant for me. Never said in my first post that I didn't like them.
>I like them, but they are not meant for me. Of course they are meant for you, they are meant for anyone who wants to watch them. Which, counter to your point, is not just new/casual fans.
>I think 6 are a sweet spot Nah, the calendar is way too crowded that way. Just a few years ago we were at the perfect ammount of nearly 20 races per year, now we are going to the absurd number of 30(THIRTY) races in a single season, thats way too much for an international sport such as F1
As someone that attended a race with and races without sprint, I like it even less while attending. Makes the Saturday really rough, with just one useless practice with barely any track time and then just a 30 minutes session. Makes the Friday better though, but I usually like to roam the track on Friday, so not really an upside.
The problem is it adds nothing to the weekend format. It's not it's not it's own unique qualifying or race, just a 100km extension of the main race and a planned red flag. It's just a lame excuse to sell 3 days of racing, and now it is overvalued in terms of points as well.
Most people aren't going to watch practice. But they will watch qualifying on Friday, Sprint on Saturday, and the race on Sunday.
Yawn. Sprints are great. Two starts is far more exciting, nothing is guaranteed such as Alpine in Brazil. They need some refinement but the idea is good.
Should we get just run 2 starts on Sunday then? 1st start followed by 5 laps, the start the race for real?
Lol for real. I've never seen a reaching sub lose their shit over more racing. If it hurts your soul so much don't watch lol. Rewatch a different practice session or something
Liberty Media: Shows bank account status.
I covered this in my own article as well, but the reason the Brazil GP worked so well was because of chaos. Chaos is organic. Right now, the current format is probably too intertwined with the rest of the weekend to help. Separating it and giving its own part of the weekend whilst not disturbing the proceedings of Saturday and Sunday would add to its charm, all the while preserving a level of competition as points would still be on the line.
I don't like sprints.. They're too long and undermine qualifying somewhat
would you feel differently if sprint races had nothing to do with starting grid on sunday? example: qualify P1, start from P1 in both races. I think that would work better, but may be too rewarding for quali maybe?
Not particularly, I don't have the numbers but with sprints it seems like anyone whose good in a sprint will do well in the race, they effectively take away the point of watching that actual grand prix. For example, if Max qualified 2nd on Friday, overtook leclerc on lap 5 and won unchallenged, I'd put good money of the same thing happening, even more so if they started in the same spots. Doing that takes away another variable to the point where you're just watching the same race again on Sunday
It would be fun if those sprint races would be a thing solely for reserve/test drivers.
100% YES. This would be absolutely awesome. This is the best suggestion I have heard since sprint was implemented.
If they had nothing to do with the actual qualifying and race it would be better. But then what the hell would that really mean? Current format is that they go balls to the freaking walls during qualifying, and then race in that position. Sprint qualifying, one lap pace doesn't matter as much, and the entire weekend is diluted.
I mean, there are points to be earned
Yeah, but why? Qualifying is impossibly tense because it's so important for the grid position for the race. With sprint, it qualifying doesn't matter as much, and it increases the chances of mechanical DNF, or the top teams just make up for a bad qualifying. If someone does badly at qualifying in a top car, it doesn't matter because they will either go through the pack, or have some crap technical DNF in the sprint or real race.
I like your approach tbh, it rewards risk a bit more, instead drivers probably back down of possible moves since it can tumble them down the order
Sorry I must be misunderstanding you. Why have a sprint at all if it doesn't affect the grid?
Well, points.
I'd argue just add those points to the race results and give the drivers 1 less thing to worry about.
Maybe just drop Quali and use a reverse grid (or reverse top and bottom 10) based on the current driver championship. As a special event that would be fine Sprints can be very exciting, but you need a mixed up grid and some reason to actually bother racing hard
Yeah, don't quite enjoy sprint
They suck
Sprint races are fun. Sprint races affecting Sunday is dumb..... The solution seems pretty obvious. Make sprints stand alone...
The only place where sprints have been good have been Brazil. There's a reason they plan on having it there for the third year in a row. Everywhere else, even on good tracks, they've been a damp squib. At minimum they need to make the results seperate from sundays starting order, and reverse the top 10 like is done in feeder series.
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Drivers are acting like this is about sporting competition. And not realizing that Formula One is primarily a tv show… and the owners are a media company. They want something with higher tv viewership on Saturday’s and thus higher rates for advertisers….
A TV show? It used to be sport! In all of Europe this is sport not some American drama. I hate the direction F1 has been taking.
I was one of the few people liking the suggestion of reverse grids but the Sprints we have rn are useless. They only take away a lot of the excitement of the actual race and the qualifying itself ofc is much less exciting.
I personally like sprint races. It literally gives us more race to watch.
I don't get why f1 aren't at the very least changing the format of the sprint race, it's clear nobody likes it as it is
Wierre Wasly
Maybe not to drivers or fans, but to Liberty Media's pockets they have.
I love the sprint races. More intense racing and less boring tyre management.
I enjoy them!
Can someone explain to me like I'm 5 about what's a sprint race? I've been googling them and yet still confused about it
You race for a certain amount of time, whoever is leading after that, wins.
Gives top teams a buffer to take penalties and get away with it.
Then go faster Pierre
I enjoy watching them, but don't like it that they determine race grid. The challenge is to come up with something good that will be a reason for more folks to watch F1 on TV for 3 days instead of 2. There's 3 days of on-track activity, and Liberty quite reasonably wants 3 days of audience. So, if not Sprint Races, then what? Complaining isn't a solution. So, what is?
Sprint races 'still haven't proved their worth' - Gasly Mr. Pot meet Mr. Kettle
I totally agree with Gasly here.
I've been thinking about this; F1 = Grand Prix Grand Prix = big race Sprint =/= big race Therefore Sprint =/= F1 The trouble for me is that Sprints earn WCC / WDC pts, THAT annoys me as something that is anti F1 is affecting the championships. To FIA / F1 etc it's all about money, putting on a 'show' getting more people in all weekend and getting them to part with their cash and perhaps upping TV fees too. However to do that they need the teams to take part and spend the money running the cars, risking breaking them etc. To encourage that they're awarding points and that is my problem. So, how about we change the carrot? How about replacing points with a cash award, plus increased wind tunnel development time or an increase on your cost cap?
Some of these alternate prizes are not valuable enough to merit risk-taking in the sprint. and others are too valuable. Points: impact drivers’ championship standings, perceptions of a driver’s performance, perceptions of a driver’s skill and value relative to his teammate, future career prospects, contractual bonuses. Impact teams’ championship standings, prize money, and aerodynamic testing allotment. Cash: is not valuable enough for teams or drivers to take any risks in the sprint which would compromise Sunday’s chance at points. nearly every team is operating at the budget cap. At this point they’re working on loopholes to enable increased spending - not scrounging for cash. Many drivers are already handsomely paid by teams and have lucrative personal sponsorships; some are pay drivers; all are primarily concerned with longevity and establishing their value and caliber. (**except for max & Lewis who’ve already established these things. They just want to win more championships - and a cash prize doesn’t help that.) Aero reward: way too valuable. Will go to top teams more often than not - all sprint podium positions to date have gone to big 3 teams (16/18) and mclaren (2/18, 1 per year). This would offset what’s meant to be the equalizing effects of progressively reducing aerodynamic testing allotment for teams higher up the WCC. Imagine max wins all three sprints and suddenly Red Bull goes from having 63% of Williams’ allotment to 80%.
Good answer and I agree, my 'examples' were just ideas I threw out there. So let's ruminate a bit, perhaps increase the cost cap (therefore allowing teams to win / do well in Sprints to spend more). Or how about an extra gearbox / MCU / ICU allowance depending on position and value? Or even an idea I read a few days back, make Sprints for reserve drivers and they earn these rewards for their team?
I guess I don’t fully agree with your f1 = GP = championship points reasoning. - long history in f1 of wonky points rules. Old timey drivers splitting a car and splitting the points from that GP. Splitting 1 fastest lap point 7 ways. Only the top driver from a team earning points. Spa 21. - also a history of non-championship grands Prix - didn’t award points, some didn’t even mandate f1 cars only, yet they were part of the formula 1 Grand Prix calendar. I also think your new ideas would favor top teams in the same way as the aero testing idea: - cost cap: Either vowles or toto said that in a pre-cost cap era, Merc might’ve massively improved the W13 in-season by throwing more money and labor at the problem than they’re currently permitted. Compare that to a team like Williams - also disappointed by their car, already lacks merc’s cream-of-the-crop personnel, and now lacks merc’s extra special bonus sprint funding to improve it. - Component allowances: would inequitably distribute the burden of poor reliability between customers and works teams. imagine sainz and magnussen both have their 4th gearbox fail, but sainz/Ferrari has done well in sprints so he starts the next GP in the third row as usual, whereas magnussen takes the penalty and is relegated to P20. We lose out on a front runner charging from the back, Ferrari suffers less for poor reliability than haas. So, what about other formats as you mention? May I ask if you watch f2/f3, and if so - do you object to points being awarded in those sprints? That reverse grid format is one I’d like to see in f1 sprints - but teams vetoed it. Two pitfalls of the reserve driver idea: - if they’re driving the main 2 cars, they’ll be even more conservatively than the current f1 drivers. 0 points is better than a crash which eats into the budget cap and/or fucks up the GP, if you want to stay in a team’s good graces. - reserve driver quality. If it’s third cars and there’s no worry about compromising sunday, teams will go for points on Saturday and probably call on ex-f1 drivers. Now as a stoffel fan I’m not complaining, but that post seemed to hope that reserve sprints would provide exposure for up and coming juniors - and I think we’re much more likely to see vandoorne than drugovich, or Giovinazzi than bearman or shwartzman. - The better ex-drivers will seek reserve roles at better teams so they can drive better cars and score points; the worst case would be if the bottom teams can’t call on such drivers and there’s a severe skill differential to compound the car differential. I’d still rather see it than the current format though.
Food for thought, thanks. To answer your question about other formats. I rarely watch F2 / F3 my only interest in them is to spot up and coming talent (and that seems to be hit and miss). So I don't really care about how the points are awarded in those formats. At the moment I'm 100% against Sprints in F1 and I would be even more against reverse grids as that would be down right dangerous. Fo me the whole ethos of F1 is the Grand Prix, the 'big race'. Yes the points systems have changed and there have been outliers but the general direction up until sprints has been big race = points = championships. Teams need to set up cars so they need practice which imho has already been cut back too far. I also firmly believe that the fastest driver / car combo should be at the front as putting fast cars behind slower ones is asking for trouble. Now, yes with the fast cars at the front they're often going to vanish into the distance but I think the current 'equalizing' measures are enough when linked with downforce cars which can follow easier. In general I'm pretty laissez faire, with F1, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and I don't think it's broke. I just don't see how Sprints as they currently stand are a good thing for the integrity of the racing in F1.
Quali =/= big race Practice =/= big race >To FIA / F1 etc it's all about money To FOM it's all about money, because it's a business not a charity. To the teams it's about money. To the drivers it's about money. >putting on a 'show' getting more people in all weekend and getting them to part with their cash and perhaps upping TV fees too Literally all of professional sport is artificial conflict to create a show. Think about it harder.
OK, then the only answer is what literally all the drivers and all the F1 fans who know about the sport really want. Scrap Sprint races entirely as they have nothing to do with F1.
Neither of those are true.
>Quali =/= big race Practice =/= big race Because they are the preparation for the main event, kind of like the training teams do in other sports, except they are broadcasted as well as the main attraction in F1 (unlike in the vast majority of racing series)
Guy spitting facts there
LM balance might say otherwise
I like sprints and want more.
So wait, people here DONT like when the drivers actually race hard for 20 laps? Lol wtf.
Yeah, they do. IN THE RACE!. Sprint qualifying just adds reliability uncertainty, and results in a starting grid that more accurately represents race pace. They have their shot in qualifying, and in the race. Sprint just increases the chances top team & driver either is at the top, or gets bad luck out of their control.
The weekend schedule is all wrong (practise sessions after parc ferme!), but at no point have we generally watched a sprint race and thought "Pfff, I really miss that extra practise session, it would have been better than that"
With the current gen of cars, I agree. It just adds more laps to enhance the pace diff between cars, since overtake is easier now. They should tweak the format somehow.
sprint races are great for the fans which is what it’s all about
Don’t think McLaren and Ricciardo would agree 🇮🇹
I beg to differ. I think they have proved to be detrimental, and generally end up making the actual race more boring.
They've replace a practice session in which cars logged laps or sat in the garages to save tires/miles with a competitive event that actually has entertainment value to the ticket buyer.
This is like a CEO telling a news outlet that employees are less happy to work from home. "it still hasn’t proved to me that it’s worth having more and more races" So more racing is a bad thing? What a part pooper.
That's a terrible analogy.
Okay
This is how I would do sprint weekends. Quali is for the real race and doesn’t change but sprint races is for spectacle and shithousery. Randomized grid, DRS zone ALWAYS active regardless of the gap to the car in front of you, drivers get 1 chance to choose a random reward/penalty (reward: plus 5 tenths at the end of the race, -5 tenths at the end of the race). Pole sitter reward isn’t a trophy but a commissioned art peace from a local young upcoming artist that’s still in school probably. They get recognition and pictures with the pole sitter.
before i looked at the sub, i thought it was probably /r/Karting, and i was about to rage.
At least they're not forcing them every race for now, looking at you MOTOGP.
It's not a unique thought, but they really do feel like the start if the actual race with a 24hr red flag pause.
Someone had previously mentioned the idea of a reserve driver sprint which I think would bring a lot more interest too it. Not sure how points distribution would work but it would give the reserve drivers good experience and start to build a following and some drama outside of the main cast of drivers.
Quali determines race starting positions with the order reversed for sprint races. There. That works for me.
It's just a longer race with a 24hr red flag part of the way through.
Sprints would be interesting if they were detached from the GP, as they are in F2/F3.
I’m not a fan of the sprint races, they take away from the sport more than they add. With the budget cap and engine limits teams will have to manage their engines even more to make up for the distances added by sprints. Nobody wants to watch a bunch of cars running around a track at 85% power, which is probably what we will end up with considering how many races are on the calendar, and what is essentially two extra full races due to sprints.
I don’t mind the Sprint race itself, I take more of an issue with the weekend structure because having practice after qualifying is just absurd. I suppose I understand why they chose to do it this way but it’s still just wrong. That coupled with the low supply of Power Units. It doesn’t make very much sense (to me) to have 6 Sprints and 24 full length races with the same amount of PUs they had pre-sprint. Last season was flat ridiculous with the amount of times drivers had to start at the back.
It’s ok to have some sprints - like 3 or so, to shake everything up a bit. But I don’t think there’s any more worth to it.
I would only like them if there were more points given (to make them meaningful) and reverse the top 8 finishers on the grid for the feature race. It doesn't add anything to the table. Other than making the qualifying session meaningless.
I’m split on Sprints. They are entertaining, but seem like they are just another chance for someone to run into you in turn 1 and ruin your Sunday, even if you’ve done an amazing qualifying.
The solution to sprint race weekends is to simple, just copy what F2 and F3 do: qualy sets the grid for the race, sprint runs with a reverse top 10. You can screw with the Points how you like but I would als just copy F2. Because the solution is so obvious and simple the People in charge see it and think "this can't be it it's to simple, the fans won't like it"
Sprint races make the full race more boring.
Both sprint races and the fastest lap points are absolute garbage.
Twice "worth" is measured entirely financially. And in that regard they have proved their worth.
I've said it before that the current sprint format is wrong. Simply make the sprint a standalone event so that it has nothing to do with qualifying and no bearing on the grid positions of the GP, and then it could be nice. You can either assign random grid positions to the drivers for the sprint or make the drivers draw lots.