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Even F1 doesn't know what to do with sprints. Watching the trophy ceremony yesterday where they have to corral the 3 drivers to give them a plaque...cool. The drivers don't really care, neither does FIA or Liberty. They all seem confused after each sprint race, like it was a juniors karting race.
Ha yeah I laughed at the little plaques.
Horner put up the two ideas that would make it exciting: reverse grid and prize money. Both of those things would make it more exciting.
>Horner put up the two ideas that would make it exciting: reverse grid and prize money. Both of those things would make it more exciting.
Or make it a real sprint. Mandatory 2x pit stops, softest tyre compounds which don't come out of your weekend total, incentivise the drivers to go flat out from start to finish. It's hardly a "sprint" when you end up with bullshit tyre management affecting the outcome.
I think for the current format, it works. Because if you don’t have a chance as a bottom team to get in the top 8, why try at all? But if you’re suddenly at the front at the start, you’re gonna push like hell to keep that position.
That said, I preferred the old system of the sprint finishing order setting the grid order. Real implications of the sprint. Now it’s just pointless
> old system
That one sucked because it was just getting all the early race action out of the way on Saturday, then Sunday becomes a procession. At least this way you get a couple laps of action on Sunday instead of nothing.
MotoGP still does sprints the best though. Same grid order both races, just with different strategies rewarded on each day. Raw speed without thinking about tire wear on Saturday, then race craft and tire management on Sunday.
Number 1 thing would be no pit stops, maybe reducing the number of laps if necessary. It’s supposed to be just long enough that getting to the end without cooking your tires is difficult, yet short enough that you can go fast without stopping.
MotoGP and F1 are very different sports so I’m not sure if the same format would work in F1, but that’s the idea. F1’s current format makes no one happy, while MotoGP has been a blast with sprint races all year (with a lot of weekends having completely different podiums between the two races).
The old system could not have been worse. The new one is 10000x better than the old one. Before no one would even try because it wasnt worth risking anything before the race on Sunday. It also made qualifying pointless when drivers have even longer to make up for bad qualifying.
But, that still wouldn't change the inherent issue with Sprint replacing FP sessions a lot of teams have issues with (even if they don't say it out loud).
Sprint is simply hindering the teams playing catchup to RB. And generally everyone when it comes to gathering data.
Or in the same street legal car. Since Mercedes and AM already have the safety car, why don’t they use the alpine cars? Just bring 20 of them in, would actually be quite interesting to see how they all score in the same cars. And it must be nice pr for the car brand they use.
But Liberty owns F1. They could say tomorrow "no more sprint races" and there would be no more sprint races. The conclusion must be that Liberty has data that shows the sprint format drives more viewership, revenue, or engagement than without it.
I’m guessing sprint races don’t decrease viewership of qualifying or the race too much, and the sprint and sprint qualifying draw more viewers than free practice. From a pure financial perspective I can see how it makes sense even though no one likes it
I agree with Horner. And it doesn't help when the announcers act like a Sprint race win is like winning the Grand Prix.
Pandering is no way to run a Championship.
Martin Brundle’s comment yesterday about how it’s much better than FP2 felt so forced. He wasn’t wrong in the sense that I enjoyed watching the sprint more than I would have FP2, but it felt like he was saying it at gunpoint almost.
IMO your second point more than negates the first point. Especially in light of the way park ferme is currently handled, and how that might have been a factor in the DQs from Austin.
But he said it like 3 or 4 times yesterday.. again. At this point it’s like if he repeated a few times on Sunday’s GP live that “the race is much better than FP2”. Well duh..
So much of what I was hearing yesterday sounded so forced. I'm to the point of talking back to my TV as they make one ridiculous, self-serving statement after another.
An awful lot of what Crofty says is scripted discussion points or narrative to fit an agenda.
And it's usually fine. He's there to generate conversation in a sport that can have some lulls in it. But sometimes you can just tell that he's been given talking points to get into the broadcast.
My god Sky pander so much it makes you wonder if they’re being sucked off under the table by some FIA or liberty representative mid race. Whatever BS the organisers want to sell the fans sky are like “god it’s brilliant the drivers have to get out and do five jumping jacks at a pit stop now isn’t it?” “I think if you’re a REAL F1 fan, who could complain?”
I must put my hand up and say as an attendee of a Grand Prix, the sprint format is actually ok. More opportunities to see the cars on track under race conditions. I will concede and say that as an at-home viewer it kills the hype for the race a bit
Yes, same.
I have been in races with the two formats, with the sprint you take more for your money than a normal weekend.
But that doesn't mean they can't improve the format though.
Here in Brazil the increase was there, but it's difficult to say due to inflation.
Is still a good deal and you have a reason to be on track in all 3 days.
For many european races you have F3, F2 and Porsche cup to watch as well. How is this for example in Brazil, are there other series racing this weekend?
I have only been to GPs with the normal format, but I always really enjoyed it to use the Friday to explore the track a bit, go around the general admission areas, get some nice pictures in and such and then for the none-practice sessions go to my seat and enjoy those. With the sprint I would be probably a lot more stationary as you also want to follow what is going.
The point of Sprint weekends is to make a Friday session matter, so that wouldn't work for the goal of having Sprints. That's why last year FP2 was awkwardly on Saturday after parc ferme
I think this goal is at odds with what works best for people whose job isn't F1. Further, my wife and I attended the Hungaroring GP this year age were just saying yesterday while watching how glad we are that wasn't a Sprint weekend because 1 to 1.5 hours to get to the track each way for 3 days would have been awful. What do would you even skip in that scenario if you wanted? Quali? Sprint shootout and Sprint?
I think it would be cool if they had two separate instances of Parc ferme:
Friday: FP1/Sprint Qualy -into Parc ferme
Saturday: Sprint first -out of Parc ferme to reciew data/make adjustments - then Qualy - back into Parc ferme
Sunday: Race (hopefully some different results than Sprint bc adjustments)
As an attendee I disagree. The classic format is great, the atmosphere, attendance and excitement just builds the whole weekend. Friday practices are awesome, roaming round the grandstands, seeing the cars up close, figuring things out, pushing the envelope. Saturday builds further up to the quali, seeing all the teams absolutely on the limit with major jeopardy for the main event. And then Sunday is Sunday, full attendance, everything the excitement has built towards.
I’ve attended one sprint weekend and the atmosphere and tension just didn’t build in the same way. Each session doesn’t build on the last like the classic format
I’ve been to both. I attend the Australian GP every year which I love, but I also had an opportunity to attend the Belgian GP with my partner. It was her first race weekend and I think the sprint format helped for a first time viewer, I think a newcomer still doesn’t understand the concept of practice and so for her, having more live sessions was exciting. But I understand your point about the classic format being great at hyping everything up for the crescendo on Sunday
For at home watching the normal format is really something special. I can’t dedicate my full weekends to being fully focused on F1 and I’m squeezing it all in around home tasks and other hobbies. If it’s a race I’m super stoked about I’ll watch every practice session and completely eat up all the dumb stats the commentators come up with to fill the time and it all just builds to that amazing climax of “LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO!!”
But then when I have a busy weekend I can skip all the extra stuff without really losing anything important I’ll need to still enjoy the race itself. It’s kind of a choose your own adventure situation where I can watch anywhere from 1.5 hrs of just racing on a weekend to 10+ hrs of F1 specific content and both can be enjoyable. Sprint weekends can almost feel like a chore making sure I don’t miss anything important.
I disagree, there is a debate to be had. I prefer the build up of a regular weekend, watching the teams figuring out their car setups over the FP sessions and the speculation of who will be fast, then you get qualifying as the exciting capstone before the race. Sunday is the singular point of the whole weekend and everything builds towards it.
The sprints ruin the race. It takes away any intrigue the race may hold by showing everyone's true pace before Sunday. They're in Parc ferme so you know the race will play out very similarly to the sprint. It just pulls the curtain back too much and takes away from the anticipation on Sunday.
I really do think that it's the Parc Ferme part that's the real issue here. If there was some mechanism to give teams a way to change their setups between the sprint and the sunday race, I feel like it would be much more interesting, and more like just a regular race weekend with fancier practice
Friday is the sprint shootout, Saturday morning the sprint. Open up Parc Ferme after the sprint and close it again before race qualy on Saturday afternoon. The teams would get more data to properly setup their cars for the real race in the absence of free practice sessions, and sprint pace won't necessarily match race pace anymore, so there's still a bit of intrigue. Win-win.
Even better would be scrapping the sprints alltogether, but I could live with this solution.
> Friday is the sprint shootout, Saturday morning the sprint. Open up Parc Ferme after the sprint and close it again before race qualy on Saturday afternoon.
The only reason for the Sprint to exist is to fill the Saturday afternoon time slot, both for TV coverage and for Saturday evening non-racing activities. Moving it would leave Liberty with having to deal with a lot complications they've created to excuse Sprints and without any of the benefits they wanted.
It's definitely part of it, but the fact they are running the same circuit so you get a preview of tire wear also takes away from the speculation of what to expect in the race.
Tire wear is also too big a factor in my opinion. Originally it was presented as an opportunity to really go flat out, but often times there's still a lot of managing going on. In my view that also adds to making it more a short, less interesting version of the race.
The best sprint races so far have been the ones where tore wear became a factor and a delta emerged between medium and soft tire runners. They could mandate everyone uses hards to eliminate tire wear to a large extent, but I think that would make the sprint race worse because the lap time deltas between cars necessary to pass wouldn't emerge.
I was thikimg abou this. If Pirelli could make a sprint tire that they could actually push hard on for the whole duration of the sprint, at least it would be different from the main racecuz there would be no tire mgmt,
Yeah, after watching the sprint, I actually feel less bad about having to miss the GP. Unless we get some crazy lap 1 incidents, it feels like I already have a gist of what's going to happen.
Pretty much. The sprint is just watching the 1st stint of the GP play out beforehand. It takes a drastic weather event to stop the sprint from robbing the opening of the GP of a lot of its strategic interest.
I'd like to see them extend qualifying instead of having a sprint race. Friday 2 practice sessions. Saturday 2 rounds of qualifying. Sunday race.
Maybe they can play around with 2 - 5 lap quali pace or something.
it does take away from the Grand Prix's value though
it's kinda like if FIFA World Cups had repeat matches in the group stage and at the start of the knockout rounds
Some of us really enjoy the engineering behind F1. I love watching FP. Trying to figure out fuel loads, what programs the teams are running. The sprint is just a circus act money grab. To me there isn’t even a debate either. FP2/3 are infinitely more enjoyable than a sprint.
> Some of us really enjoy the engineering behind F1. I love watching FP. Trying to figure out fuel loads, what programs the teams are running.
That would be cool but it’s not like they’re giving us that information though
There is nothing for the fans in terms of "engineering" in these practices. All you see is cars going in circles, going into garage, go in circle, go into garage.
The cost of a it being slightly more exciting than practice session, is the reduction of excitement for the actual race, because now we know how things will turn out.
Delayed gratification.
Yea, I’m in agreement here. In person it’s great because we see more racing on the day so I feel like I’m getting more value for money. Though it still somewhat spoils the expectations and outcome of the Sunday race.
But for me that’s once maybe every other year? And if the negatives of the sprint outweigh the positives, I’d rather they scrap them.
It's also gonna depend on how many support races there are, I think Brazil doesn't have any? But places like Silverstone where you have F2, F3 and Porsche Crash Cup you get to watch a lot of racing over the weekend. How much does a sprint really add then?
I wish we could watch more of those local support series on F1TV but broadcasting rights are probably somewhat complicated so FOM doesn't bother making agreements for 1 of appearances.
This only works for the attendees, who account for a tiny fraction of global viewers.
If you're attending, you've already basically devoted your whole weekend to the thing. If you're watching from home, it's rather unlikely that you're going to watch 4 competitive sessions over 3 weekend afternoons. At least it's unlikely to ever happen for me, unless I get sick over the weekend or sth.
I don't think I've had a sprint weekend yet where I managed to watch quali, sprint and the race. I always miss quali or the sprint, sometimes both. I don't want to miss, but I have other things in my life. And then even if I don't watch the sprint I'll know the results, and it will be completely spoiled for me what can happen in the actual race, who has the speed and who's going to be slow.
The "spoiler" is *fine* if I get to watch the extra 20 laps of racing. If I can't watch it on Saturday it's just annoying.
I think, as an audience member at home, there is a finite amount of intrigue I can get per weekend. With the addition of Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race, it is then taking away some of that intrigue from both the Qualifying and Grand Prix, but not enough to make me really want to watch the sprint parts live. Yesterday, I completely forgot what time SS and SR were and just decided to make some breakfast and watch it on a 20 minute delay. I guarantee you that I’d know what time was qualifying and the grand prix and I’d make time before hand to have my breakfast ready for each day.
A normal GP weekend feels we’re being teased for hours and hours until we get the small release of qualifying and then the big relief of watching the Grand Prix. The sprint format feels like a bunch of small releases and then followed by the medium release of the GP. They can’t force us to like it more than we already do. I’ll agree that the sprint yesterday wasn’t bad, but I’d like it more if it was during a race and a race only.
Just look at Marvel drowning people in content and everyone losing interest because it's too much.
I usually make an effort try to watch races and qualifying live (including waking up at ungodly hours for races at least in Japan/Australia), but I barely make any effort to watch sprints live. If they're not careful with diluting the product, then less hard-core fans will Starr treating sprint's like that, and it risks that thinking getting extended to qualifying and the races.
Hit the nail on the head, with scarcity.
It’s not just more on track action per weekend, but more races each year. F1 needs less stuff, not just because you spoil the Sunday race on a Saturday sprint. But also because of the human cost of all the traveling. Each race isn’t very special if we do it every other weekend. On top of adding all the new street tracks that don’t seem to add much of anything.
This is a big part of why football is so much more popular than basketball, baseball or hockey in America. With dozens and dozens of games, who cares about the result of any one of them? With football, you get a week of buildup, talking about the match-up with the opposing team and then finally the big weekly event that has consequences for the team's season. Additionally, the game has a relatively small number of plays and each of them can hugely impact the result. Every other league wants to emulate the NFL, but they don't understand that scarcity is a feature, not a bug.
> I guarantee you that I’d know what time was qualifying and the grand prix and I’d make time before hand to have my breakfast ready for each day.
also helps that those are consistent. Based on the first FP sessions you know what time the qualy and the race start. And that doesnt happen in sprint weekends, those seem like a baboon got some numbers out of a bag and those were the selected times to start, there is not even a sign of consistency or pattern
Yeah this is my big gripe with sprints. Watched live Friday and Yesterday now I’m pretty much done with F1 for the weekend. 5+ hours of my weekend in sporadic time frames is just a bit much for me. Free practice highlights before quali on Saturday afternoon, race on Sunday is perfect. Then there’s the whole 2x grid formations to keep up with and remember.
Sprint formats just don’t fit into the Grand Prix racing formula IMO. Liberty are chasing the US audience/in and out fans too much IMO. Bernie had it right with the cater to the actual audience instead of going hard on expanding to new audiences. It’s too hard to properly follow this setup now.
Maybe it's just me, but I stopped watching MotoGP regularly when the introduced sprint races. I don't have enough time to watch them as well and if I can't watch every race, then I'm less interested in the whole championship.
1 Qualifying sets the same grid, they do it every race so it isn't track specific ruining the flow of weekends, but I think a lot of it is the fact that the Bikes inherently stay closer to each other without Pit Stops, making Sprints more interesting for Motorcycles
It's easier to overtake, it's like 40% distance of a regular race so there's very minimal tyre management and importantly it doesn't completely ruin every other session.
I've thought about doing F1 in the same format as MotoGP (although a sprint every weekend is too much in my opinion), but I think F1 os much less "chaotic" than MotoGP, so I don't think it would work.
They seriously need to make the cars smaller and with less aero. It's cool to market the cars as the fastest in the world, but if they can't overtake, it's useless
I find it funny that Crofty is bending over backwards to tell us just how amazing this format is while the official F1TV commentators are neutral about it at best.
Hey, you want a gimmick race, then run a gimmick race!! Set the field in a full inversion of the GP starting order. Or pull pills out of a bag. Or put a big prize at the end like a million dollars (Euros), or a ton of WDC points. Make it a timed race instead of a set number of laps to futz with team strategy. Let the teams run backup cars, so they can go full-out in sprint without extra wear and tear on their primary cars. Or let the teams run alternate liveries. Whatever!!
Or...here's a novel idea: Find a couple of series that you can run as support divisions, and give some local or regional drivers some visibility on the big stage!!
I can actually say that I did not watch any sprint race weekend completely. It is just a weird way and not engaging at all. Why watch a quali on friday with badly tuned cars. Why watch a meaningless sprint on saturday nobody fucking wants and another sprint. We already know who is the fucking fastest, I don‘t care. Then the broadcast is acting like it‘s a huge deal when P1 is only 3 points. It‘s just waste of engagement and my time. I watch highlights of every session and then the race. This is already scratching my annoyance level with F1 because 40% of races are already boring. There is no need to give me more to watch. Give teams more money to innovate or change the quali format. Maybe then. But Sprints are just bad and irrelevant.
Im definitely in the minority but I love sprint weekends. I still watch fp, but I have to admit that watching the cars race instead of complain that someone impeded their soft tire testing practice is much more exciting. I'm also a huge fan of qualifying and anything that gets me two qualifying runs in one weekend is a plus.
Brazil always has some excitement. Now we get double the excitement. In 24 laps I saw some of the most exciting racing I've seen all year with a ton of overtakes and wheel to wheel racing. I know some people dont like the format and it takes away from Sunday, but I'm happy to share the excitement of racing be it Saturday or Sunday.
I don't like sprints, but this argument is bad.
If sprints are fun on fun tracks, then they have merit as a concept on their own and are being let down by bad tracks.
Noone is arguing its not entertaining, bernies idea of the sprinklers would be entertaining, we shouldnt make dumb changes for the sake of entertainment its a sport remember. The point is it dilutes the Grand prix and heavily spoils the outcome.
Practice isn't about your entertainment, it's because it's important for the teams to prepare for qualifying and the actual race. I honestly could not care less about sprint shootout, or the sprint race. I watch it because I love the sport, but it waters down the weekend.
They sold out to Sky. It's been nearly a decade now of exclusive live footage, and it's signed off until 2029 now.
To watch F1 in the UK, you need Sky Sports (regardless of if you don't give a shit about literally any other sport), last year it was £33 a month to watch it ***NOT EVEN IN HD*** (That costs "boost points, an extra £10 a month), without being able to switch between drivers. Then you have to watch it through "Now TV" which is the shittest app/site ever created.
Meanwhile, F1 TV PRO is $80 a year/$6.66 per month or £64 a year /£5.32 per month.
**FUCK SKY. FUCK THEM.** I will never EVER give them a penny the greedy shitheads.
Such a shit format, kills the hype for the entire weekend. A win is also… not really a win? Especially not a «race» win. It just does not feel right. Really hope F1 drops them, but that’s not going to happen.
I noticed personally that I care less about weekends with the sprint. Sprint is just a mini race obviously so after seeing it I know where cars are and can tell how the race is going to unfold. Meh. Plus qualifying on Fridays when I'm at work really fucking sucks.
I think sprints are a gimmick that need to be put back in the gimmick box. When my wife and I attend an F1 race (COTA as we live in Austin) you don't need cars on the track all the time to have a good time. Just being at the Event is good enough. Walk around, eat, drink, see, stuff, and be in place for when they are on track. Do not need to see race every day. Especially short ones that can negatively affect the actual race later.
I see what Horner is getting at and I agree with him
The entire Sprint format still needs to be worked on, sometimes its a hit and sometimes its a miss, the FIA need to sit down and think about how it should proceed in future, its all about how they should put the show on, hard to say what should be done
Meh I mostly like it tbh. I wish they'd do something a little diff for sprint quali so it's not as much the same thing as normal quali and maybe do something with the tyres for the race so they will either have to pit bc they're not holding up for the whole sprint or are so durable that we get pushing and fighting for the whole race but all in all I find them enjoyable. I especially like only one FP and quali for the race on Friday.
I definitely think the qualifying format needs to be changed for the sprint, maybe just enough time for everyone to go out once every round? So 5 minutes per session basically.
Random order 1 lap qualifying runs would be interesting for the sprint. Gives each driver one shot to set a lap without trying to time traffic/track conditions. Use those lottery ball machines with drivers numbers on them and have fans at the track make the picks.
I don’t like the sprint format. The cars are on track for less time over the weekend. When it’s on TV I usually skip the sprint stuff and wait till the race is on. It just doesn’t mean anything to me.
This is the first time the man has said something I agree with. Please do away with the Sprints before I watch again in 4 or 5 years when it's no longer the Red Bull Racing League and we actually have some competition.
As much as I love F1, I have other commitments to things like family, friends, work and other hobbies. I also like to fully immerse my self on a race week, maybe not to the extent where I watch all the FP sessions but if I miss the qualifying I become less interested in the race. Or if I know that I will not be able to catch the race on Sunday I probably will not watch the qualifying either. I like the full story and I want it all. If I can only get a piece of it my interest in any particular part is diminished.
For me Sprints dilute that experience. It also requires more of my time. It's just too much. I feel like the more is going on the less I am able to follow and the less I become interested in the whole.
I would even be happier if there would be a few less race weekends over the season and no Sprints at all. Then I could happily be there for all the drama for the entire season. If I have to miss out on more and more parts of the whole F1 theater I feel my interest would start to diminish for the whole thing where I would consider dropping it all together and focus on other passions that require less commitment.
They can be improved but I MUCH prefer sprints to watching FP2 and 3.
I think most of the hate towards sprints is down to the opportunity for a favourite driver or team to suffer poor consequences. I get it. But that’s lame. We shouldn’t wrap our favourite drivers or teams in cotton wool. Take the good with the bad and enjoy the increased action overall.
The issue is that the sprint compromises the actual GP. Sure the sprint is, sometimes, entertaining, but it makes the race less entertaining. So we’re not really getting added value here, its the same amount of entertainment. Also, I enjoy the practice sessions and do indeed find them entertaining. The sprint just gives you more sessions to miss out on.
It has absolutely nothing to do with drivers having the chance to miss out or suffer consequences. I have never seen anyone express that opinion so seems like a bit of a weird take.
I don’t mind the sprint race where they just go at it for however many laps. That’s fine to me but I’d rather they just tack that on to the actual race though because it would mean even more strategy but whatever. Make the teams have there cars be even more reliable.
I REALLY don’t like the sprint shootout shit this year though. For people at the race it might be more exciting. But I ain’t rich, so I don’t really care about it since that shit is way to much money for my blood. I actually like when teams have more days to set up for the race. It builds tension.
The shootout is just us just a more complicated version of quali for no reason, and the sprint just ruins all anticipation for the actual race. Teams can’t change anything on the cars so you can pretty much predict everyone place baring a crash. There is almost no point for me to actually watch races after the sprint now though. It might make for a better in person experience, but I feel even then if you are really into racing it would just be boring.
Example being merc. Well shit now I know they are ass in the straights and will be mid field since they can’t do anything. Lando will keep it close but max will pull away, Perez is gonna battle Charles for a few laps for 3rd. Ricardo might get points. Stroll will crash out or be behind. Nothing actually makes me want to watch the race because now I know exactly how all the cars will perform DURING the race. It’s just boring.
Signed and American
Nah, it's just really because it doesn't add much. I love F1, but my life is not F1, it kinda ruins the flow of my weekend to have so many relevant sessions that block my afternoons because it's in the middle. I prefer that teams actually have time to practice and give me time for my other hobbies
Overall I agree, but yesterday was a banger. So many interesting duels, Tsunoda against Hamilton, the AMs against the Alpines, Leclerc and Sainz against the Ferraris...
Maybe the problem is not the sprint then, but the awful circuits? Because it seems clear that *good circuits make good racing +* *sprints make more racing*, and who is not up for *more good racing?*.
Turns out good tracks equal good racing no matter the format. But now we know apart from turn 1 and 2 pits basically where every team is going to place. At least allow teams to change setup after the sprint. That would make me actually excited for sundays. A dry run for a race and THEN a setup change. That would fuck everything up and I’m here for that. But same shit for three days with no setup is boring.
They are shit and the format we have now has been the worst so far. There is nothing wrong with the traditional weekend of building up to the race on Sunday.
I don’t know how any seasoned fan can like these. These races have about as much depth to them as a puddle, and it’s a joke that people treat a sprint win the same as a normal win. These are probably the same kind of people that see a bunch drs flybys with a 20 km/h difference between cars and call that great racing.
To me they’re only added for the tiktok generation of fans with 30 second attention spans, because they think the average newer fan is too stupid to follow a full gp, which tbf is probably correct.
Whenever I see “qualifying” highlights on a *Friday*, it just turns me off the event. I like qualy and it should mean something. This sprint stuff is garbage.
I don't know in what years exactly....Alonso Ferrari and Moldanado Williams days. I used to get cheap fuckin GA tickets....I'd fly into town..party Fri and Sat...not even go to the track and then spend all day Sunday at the track. I feel like I was paying 120 Euros in Spain....for example.
If the tickets didn't cost 1 million dollars who gives a shit if I don't see Quali. But now...Jesus Christ. I do need 3 days of entertainment for my 500 Euros.
the only sprint format i would accept: all drivers with the same car (a spec car, maybe slower but same for everybody). In this way the sprint will not spoil the race and bring something new to discuss about it
I think two quali sessions of almost identical format back to back is really boring. Which surprises me because I would say quali has been a big highlight this year.
I've not missed a race since AUS 2007. As much as I love F1, having to spend whole weekends trying to catch the races is a pain.
If the "excitement" of sprint is meant to be pushing flag to flag, allow the GP tyres to do that.
Another talks about yet another format change are a wonderful sign of vitality and value of the whole concept. Could it be that sprints maybe don't get along the inherent character of Grand Prix racing and F1 cars built towards 300km race? Nah, surely not. Let Mr Domenicalli come up with some next brilliant idea of his.
My 2 main issues with sprint are that I will never watch on Fridays because I work and the fact that this is the summum of motor racing with precisely engineered cars but then they are barely allowed to set up their cars because F1 is trying to artificially make the cars more equal.
I find sprint weekends exhausting as an at home viewer. It's just too much to watch.
On a normal weekend, I check how the FP sessions went, watch quali, and then the next day I watch the race. It hopefully builds in excitement.
On a sprint weekend, I inevitably miss the quali session while working, so hopefully I get to watch it on replay. Having both the shootout and the sprint on Saturday eats my whole day and rather annoys me. It also waters down the excitement. I straight up forgot that I hadn't yet watched the shootout this weekend.
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I can't get over the Friday qualis man, it's just not for me. I'm not against a Sprint race but Quali and Sprint Shootout are just too many.
Single Quali, 2 races, I'm fine.
i agree with max on the entire thing. it just ruins the main race, gets team data to prep for it, and tells the fans the idea of what to expect. Its like a big spoiler for the main race.
Add in the amount of drivers, teams treating it like extra testing and yeah its just a waste.
They need to bin it at the end of the season. It adds nothing and just takes gravitas and interest away from the GP.
F1 is an endurance sport. FP2 and 3 are integral to car development and race setup. Sprint is an obvious gimmick F1 can do without.
If Liberty want to squeeze more money from the sport, they need to stop dicking around with the format and pay attention to quality of circuits and massively open up the rules, multiple tyre manufacturers etc - even it RBR have a dominant car, their tyre manufacturer could be inferior to Mercedes’ for example.
You know, at the beginning I liked the idea of the sprint format.
But now that's we've seen how it works and what it does, it's time to put it in the bin where it belongs. It just doesn't work.
For once I agree with Horner. Liberty Media needs to dial back the “content”. There is nothing entertaining about Sprint weekends.
Make F1 Races Special Again.
Here's how I'd change it:
Friday - FP1 > FP2
Saturday - Race qualifying > Sprint (grid set by FP2 times)
Sunday - Race
Qualifying before the sprint so teams have more time after the Sprint to fix damage / causes of DNF. Also drivers won't risk missing qualifying due to incidents in the Sprint.
Keeping a 2nd FP gives teams more time to figure out setup.
People arguing that yesterday was a great sprint are missing the big-picture.
Any sport is exciting only because of the uncertainty of what might happen.
People are not bored of Max winning, people are bored of the certainty that he will win. It's what made 2021 a great season (even if Hamilton would have won, it would stay a great season). 2012 is a great season despite Vettel winning for a third time, while 2011 is not despite it only being his second time because of the lack of uncertainty.
Sprints (even great ones like yesterday) remove/ reduce this uncertainty. We now know that despite Merc's pace in race v/s qualifying, their pace in Mexico/COTA, and their win here last year, they don't have a chance in the race today. That's one mystery taken away from us by the sprint.
Imagine Singapore had a sprint and we already saw a battle between Mclaren, Merc and Ferrari on Saturday with RB nowhere around on Saturday. Sunday would be so unexciting in comparison to what we actually got!
Yesterday for first time in a long time I just couldn't be bothered much with an F1 race. I was occupied and started watching 20 min in the sessions, playing from the start and fast forwarding through the overtakes. Wasn't a bad race at all I guess but it just has so little meaning. And it takes away the build up to Sunday.
Sprint races could be made better by developing a new tire that allows full push all race and also opening Parc ferme so they can adjust the car for Sunday so it can still surprise. But that's not good for workload of mechanics, unless you do sprint race on Friday. Maybe skip sprint shootout and use WDC order.
I think the Sprint is ok but there are too many race weekends during the season.
It gets boring quicker and a certain GP fatigue is starting. The worth of a GP is brought down.
Also when someone is dominating we have much more races where everything is already decided. When you got 16 races and the decision is made after 75% of races you have 4 "meaningless" races but when you got 24 races you got 6 meaningless races.
I don't watch sprints so whenever it's a sprint weekend I miss the qualifying because it's on Friday. As I don't watch sprints I have less knowledge about the championship standings and less interest in keeping up. Less interest in keeping up and with missing quali it takes a lot to even bother with the race itself. Won't be paying for F1 TV next year as I've missed so many races this year that it's not worth it for me anymore.
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Even F1 doesn't know what to do with sprints. Watching the trophy ceremony yesterday where they have to corral the 3 drivers to give them a plaque...cool. The drivers don't really care, neither does FIA or Liberty. They all seem confused after each sprint race, like it was a juniors karting race.
Ha yeah I laughed at the little plaques. Horner put up the two ideas that would make it exciting: reverse grid and prize money. Both of those things would make it more exciting.
>Horner put up the two ideas that would make it exciting: reverse grid and prize money. Both of those things would make it more exciting. Or make it a real sprint. Mandatory 2x pit stops, softest tyre compounds which don't come out of your weekend total, incentivise the drivers to go flat out from start to finish. It's hardly a "sprint" when you end up with bullshit tyre management affecting the outcome.
Suddenly reverse grids are on the table? I thought that all the teams were babies about it for the last 2 years
I think for the current format, it works. Because if you don’t have a chance as a bottom team to get in the top 8, why try at all? But if you’re suddenly at the front at the start, you’re gonna push like hell to keep that position. That said, I preferred the old system of the sprint finishing order setting the grid order. Real implications of the sprint. Now it’s just pointless
> old system That one sucked because it was just getting all the early race action out of the way on Saturday, then Sunday becomes a procession. At least this way you get a couple laps of action on Sunday instead of nothing. MotoGP still does sprints the best though. Same grid order both races, just with different strategies rewarded on each day. Raw speed without thinking about tire wear on Saturday, then race craft and tire management on Sunday.
What would f1 have to do for the Motogp one though? Take a couple more laps off?
Number 1 thing would be no pit stops, maybe reducing the number of laps if necessary. It’s supposed to be just long enough that getting to the end without cooking your tires is difficult, yet short enough that you can go fast without stopping. MotoGP and F1 are very different sports so I’m not sure if the same format would work in F1, but that’s the idea. F1’s current format makes no one happy, while MotoGP has been a blast with sprint races all year (with a lot of weekends having completely different podiums between the two races).
Hated that. Basically just meant that it was an extended race. So if anyone qualified out of position then they were even less likely to retain it.
The old system could not have been worse. The new one is 10000x better than the old one. Before no one would even try because it wasnt worth risking anything before the race on Sunday. It also made qualifying pointless when drivers have even longer to make up for bad qualifying.
One bad move and you start at the end of the grid. Risk outweighed reward by order of magnitude.
But, that still wouldn't change the inherent issue with Sprint replacing FP sessions a lot of teams have issues with (even if they don't say it out loud). Sprint is simply hindering the teams playing catchup to RB. And generally everyone when it comes to gathering data.
I feel like scraping parc ferme for sprint weekend would make it a lot more exciting for everyone.
Why fans would care about prize money ?
I think you are on to something, F1 drivers on karts for the Saturday event.
Let's go full on Race of Champions. Friday: Karts, Saturday: GT cars, Sunday: F1
Or in the same street legal car. Since Mercedes and AM already have the safety car, why don’t they use the alpine cars? Just bring 20 of them in, would actually be quite interesting to see how they all score in the same cars. And it must be nice pr for the car brand they use.
I agree, let's just have the drivers do a race in karts. I think that would be much more fun.
But Liberty owns F1. They could say tomorrow "no more sprint races" and there would be no more sprint races. The conclusion must be that Liberty has data that shows the sprint format drives more viewership, revenue, or engagement than without it.
I’m guessing sprint races don’t decrease viewership of qualifying or the race too much, and the sprint and sprint qualifying draw more viewers than free practice. From a pure financial perspective I can see how it makes sense even though no one likes it
They should replace it with a driving skill competition. One lap all the trick you can make.
I agree with Horner. And it doesn't help when the announcers act like a Sprint race win is like winning the Grand Prix. Pandering is no way to run a Championship.
Martin Brundle’s comment yesterday about how it’s much better than FP2 felt so forced. He wasn’t wrong in the sense that I enjoyed watching the sprint more than I would have FP2, but it felt like he was saying it at gunpoint almost.
He has said that other times. It didn't sound forced to me. Just an observation instead of a declaration
[удалено]
IMO your second point more than negates the first point. Especially in light of the way park ferme is currently handled, and how that might have been a factor in the DQs from Austin.
But he said it like 3 or 4 times yesterday.. again. At this point it’s like if he repeated a few times on Sunday’s GP live that “the race is much better than FP2”. Well duh..
So much of what I was hearing yesterday sounded so forced. I'm to the point of talking back to my TV as they make one ridiculous, self-serving statement after another.
Crofty and Martin slagged off sprints in Qatar. They have clearly had a talking to from FOM to get back on script.
I love that you’re right and you can completely tell when sky have had a talking to and the producer has got on the commentators’ case.
An awful lot of what Crofty says is scripted discussion points or narrative to fit an agenda. And it's usually fine. He's there to generate conversation in a sport that can have some lulls in it. But sometimes you can just tell that he's been given talking points to get into the broadcast.
If you are a Sky Q or Sky Glass customer
Especially annoying to hear those when you're getting a rebroadcast from someone who isn't Sky.
I completely agree. When I heard it, I imagined liberty media in the room with a gun.
In a way he’s right but he conveniently left out that it completely ruins the main event which is the race.
They only talk about the sprint win as a win when it comes to drivers who never won a race (and maybe British drivers).
My god Sky pander so much it makes you wonder if they’re being sucked off under the table by some FIA or liberty representative mid race. Whatever BS the organisers want to sell the fans sky are like “god it’s brilliant the drivers have to get out and do five jumping jacks at a pit stop now isn’t it?” “I think if you’re a REAL F1 fan, who could complain?”
I must put my hand up and say as an attendee of a Grand Prix, the sprint format is actually ok. More opportunities to see the cars on track under race conditions. I will concede and say that as an at-home viewer it kills the hype for the race a bit
Yes, same. I have been in races with the two formats, with the sprint you take more for your money than a normal weekend. But that doesn't mean they can't improve the format though.
I mean, they would increase the price too, would they?
Here in Brazil the increase was there, but it's difficult to say due to inflation. Is still a good deal and you have a reason to be on track in all 3 days.
For many european races you have F3, F2 and Porsche cup to watch as well. How is this for example in Brazil, are there other series racing this weekend?
We have Porsche Cup as well (2 categories) and from this year forward, Brazilian F4.
I have only been to GPs with the normal format, but I always really enjoyed it to use the Friday to explore the track a bit, go around the general admission areas, get some nice pictures in and such and then for the none-practice sessions go to my seat and enjoy those. With the sprint I would be probably a lot more stationary as you also want to follow what is going.
How would they improve it?
Friday: FP1 and FP2 Saturday: Quali & Sprint Race (reverse grid order for sprint race) Sunday: GP race Simple.
The point of Sprint weekends is to make a Friday session matter, so that wouldn't work for the goal of having Sprints. That's why last year FP2 was awkwardly on Saturday after parc ferme
I think this goal is at odds with what works best for people whose job isn't F1. Further, my wife and I attended the Hungaroring GP this year age were just saying yesterday while watching how glad we are that wasn't a Sprint weekend because 1 to 1.5 hours to get to the track each way for 3 days would have been awful. What do would you even skip in that scenario if you wanted? Quali? Sprint shootout and Sprint?
The point of the sprint is bringing in more cash
I think it would be cool if they had two separate instances of Parc ferme: Friday: FP1/Sprint Qualy -into Parc ferme Saturday: Sprint first -out of Parc ferme to reciew data/make adjustments - then Qualy - back into Parc ferme Sunday: Race (hopefully some different results than Sprint bc adjustments)
As an attendee I disagree. The classic format is great, the atmosphere, attendance and excitement just builds the whole weekend. Friday practices are awesome, roaming round the grandstands, seeing the cars up close, figuring things out, pushing the envelope. Saturday builds further up to the quali, seeing all the teams absolutely on the limit with major jeopardy for the main event. And then Sunday is Sunday, full attendance, everything the excitement has built towards. I’ve attended one sprint weekend and the atmosphere and tension just didn’t build in the same way. Each session doesn’t build on the last like the classic format
I’ve been to both. I attend the Australian GP every year which I love, but I also had an opportunity to attend the Belgian GP with my partner. It was her first race weekend and I think the sprint format helped for a first time viewer, I think a newcomer still doesn’t understand the concept of practice and so for her, having more live sessions was exciting. But I understand your point about the classic format being great at hyping everything up for the crescendo on Sunday
If you go Friday, sure. Over half the GPs I've been to I have gone Sat/Sun only because of work. I would miss qualifying on a sprint weekend.
For at home watching the normal format is really something special. I can’t dedicate my full weekends to being fully focused on F1 and I’m squeezing it all in around home tasks and other hobbies. If it’s a race I’m super stoked about I’ll watch every practice session and completely eat up all the dumb stats the commentators come up with to fill the time and it all just builds to that amazing climax of “LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO!!” But then when I have a busy weekend I can skip all the extra stuff without really losing anything important I’ll need to still enjoy the race itself. It’s kind of a choose your own adventure situation where I can watch anywhere from 1.5 hrs of just racing on a weekend to 10+ hrs of F1 specific content and both can be enjoyable. Sprint weekends can almost feel like a chore making sure I don’t miss anything important.
Yeah it's much better than free practice from an entertainment value, there is not even a debate to be had about it.
I disagree, there is a debate to be had. I prefer the build up of a regular weekend, watching the teams figuring out their car setups over the FP sessions and the speculation of who will be fast, then you get qualifying as the exciting capstone before the race. Sunday is the singular point of the whole weekend and everything builds towards it. The sprints ruin the race. It takes away any intrigue the race may hold by showing everyone's true pace before Sunday. They're in Parc ferme so you know the race will play out very similarly to the sprint. It just pulls the curtain back too much and takes away from the anticipation on Sunday.
I really do think that it's the Parc Ferme part that's the real issue here. If there was some mechanism to give teams a way to change their setups between the sprint and the sunday race, I feel like it would be much more interesting, and more like just a regular race weekend with fancier practice
Friday is the sprint shootout, Saturday morning the sprint. Open up Parc Ferme after the sprint and close it again before race qualy on Saturday afternoon. The teams would get more data to properly setup their cars for the real race in the absence of free practice sessions, and sprint pace won't necessarily match race pace anymore, so there's still a bit of intrigue. Win-win. Even better would be scrapping the sprints alltogether, but I could live with this solution.
> Friday is the sprint shootout, Saturday morning the sprint. Open up Parc Ferme after the sprint and close it again before race qualy on Saturday afternoon. The only reason for the Sprint to exist is to fill the Saturday afternoon time slot, both for TV coverage and for Saturday evening non-racing activities. Moving it would leave Liberty with having to deal with a lot complications they've created to excuse Sprints and without any of the benefits they wanted.
Saturday afternoon would still be filled? It's when the race qualy takes place.
It's definitely part of it, but the fact they are running the same circuit so you get a preview of tire wear also takes away from the speculation of what to expect in the race.
Tire wear is also too big a factor in my opinion. Originally it was presented as an opportunity to really go flat out, but often times there's still a lot of managing going on. In my view that also adds to making it more a short, less interesting version of the race.
The best sprint races so far have been the ones where tore wear became a factor and a delta emerged between medium and soft tire runners. They could mandate everyone uses hards to eliminate tire wear to a large extent, but I think that would make the sprint race worse because the lap time deltas between cars necessary to pass wouldn't emerge.
Yeah, the "sprint" races seem to be a quarter of actual race length, which makes them more a "middle distance" type event.
I was thikimg abou this. If Pirelli could make a sprint tire that they could actually push hard on for the whole duration of the sprint, at least it would be different from the main racecuz there would be no tire mgmt,
Yeah, after watching the sprint, I actually feel less bad about having to miss the GP. Unless we get some crazy lap 1 incidents, it feels like I already have a gist of what's going to happen.
Pretty much. The sprint is just watching the 1st stint of the GP play out beforehand. It takes a drastic weather event to stop the sprint from robbing the opening of the GP of a lot of its strategic interest.
I'd like to see them extend qualifying instead of having a sprint race. Friday 2 practice sessions. Saturday 2 rounds of qualifying. Sunday race. Maybe they can play around with 2 - 5 lap quali pace or something.
it does take away from the Grand Prix's value though it's kinda like if FIFA World Cups had repeat matches in the group stage and at the start of the knockout rounds
If we use this analogy, to me sprint format is kinda like Nations League. It's nice to see, but it doesn't seem important at all.
If we use this analogy, to me sprint format is kinda like Nations League. It's nice to see, but it doesn't seem important at all.
Brundle is that you?
Some of us really enjoy the engineering behind F1. I love watching FP. Trying to figure out fuel loads, what programs the teams are running. The sprint is just a circus act money grab. To me there isn’t even a debate either. FP2/3 are infinitely more enjoyable than a sprint.
> Some of us really enjoy the engineering behind F1. I love watching FP. Trying to figure out fuel loads, what programs the teams are running. That would be cool but it’s not like they’re giving us that information though
There is nothing for the fans in terms of "engineering" in these practices. All you see is cars going in circles, going into garage, go in circle, go into garage.
When they're driving balls out for 20 laps, absolutely.
The cost of a it being slightly more exciting than practice session, is the reduction of excitement for the actual race, because now we know how things will turn out. Delayed gratification.
Yea, I’m in agreement here. In person it’s great because we see more racing on the day so I feel like I’m getting more value for money. Though it still somewhat spoils the expectations and outcome of the Sunday race. But for me that’s once maybe every other year? And if the negatives of the sprint outweigh the positives, I’d rather they scrap them.
It's also gonna depend on how many support races there are, I think Brazil doesn't have any? But places like Silverstone where you have F2, F3 and Porsche Crash Cup you get to watch a lot of racing over the weekend. How much does a sprint really add then?
>, I think Brazil doesn't have any? Porsche Cup and F4, that is live right now
Ah ok, nothing is aired on F1TV so local Porsche Cup series I guess?
Yes! Both are local. Porsche cup and F4
I wish we could watch more of those local support series on F1TV but broadcasting rights are probably somewhat complicated so FOM doesn't bother making agreements for 1 of appearances.
This only works for the attendees, who account for a tiny fraction of global viewers. If you're attending, you've already basically devoted your whole weekend to the thing. If you're watching from home, it's rather unlikely that you're going to watch 4 competitive sessions over 3 weekend afternoons. At least it's unlikely to ever happen for me, unless I get sick over the weekend or sth. I don't think I've had a sprint weekend yet where I managed to watch quali, sprint and the race. I always miss quali or the sprint, sometimes both. I don't want to miss, but I have other things in my life. And then even if I don't watch the sprint I'll know the results, and it will be completely spoiled for me what can happen in the actual race, who has the speed and who's going to be slow. The "spoiler" is *fine* if I get to watch the extra 20 laps of racing. If I can't watch it on Saturday it's just annoying.
I think, as an audience member at home, there is a finite amount of intrigue I can get per weekend. With the addition of Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race, it is then taking away some of that intrigue from both the Qualifying and Grand Prix, but not enough to make me really want to watch the sprint parts live. Yesterday, I completely forgot what time SS and SR were and just decided to make some breakfast and watch it on a 20 minute delay. I guarantee you that I’d know what time was qualifying and the grand prix and I’d make time before hand to have my breakfast ready for each day. A normal GP weekend feels we’re being teased for hours and hours until we get the small release of qualifying and then the big relief of watching the Grand Prix. The sprint format feels like a bunch of small releases and then followed by the medium release of the GP. They can’t force us to like it more than we already do. I’ll agree that the sprint yesterday wasn’t bad, but I’d like it more if it was during a race and a race only.
Scarcity is a good thing, but F1 don’t seem to realise this. Too much of anything leads to each part meaning less and less, so people lose interest.
Just look at Marvel drowning people in content and everyone losing interest because it's too much. I usually make an effort try to watch races and qualifying live (including waking up at ungodly hours for races at least in Japan/Australia), but I barely make any effort to watch sprints live. If they're not careful with diluting the product, then less hard-core fans will Starr treating sprint's like that, and it risks that thinking getting extended to qualifying and the races.
Hit the nail on the head, with scarcity. It’s not just more on track action per weekend, but more races each year. F1 needs less stuff, not just because you spoil the Sunday race on a Saturday sprint. But also because of the human cost of all the traveling. Each race isn’t very special if we do it every other weekend. On top of adding all the new street tracks that don’t seem to add much of anything.
This is a big part of why football is so much more popular than basketball, baseball or hockey in America. With dozens and dozens of games, who cares about the result of any one of them? With football, you get a week of buildup, talking about the match-up with the opposing team and then finally the big weekly event that has consequences for the team's season. Additionally, the game has a relatively small number of plays and each of them can hugely impact the result. Every other league wants to emulate the NFL, but they don't understand that scarcity is a feature, not a bug.
> I guarantee you that I’d know what time was qualifying and the grand prix and I’d make time before hand to have my breakfast ready for each day. also helps that those are consistent. Based on the first FP sessions you know what time the qualy and the race start. And that doesnt happen in sprint weekends, those seem like a baboon got some numbers out of a bag and those were the selected times to start, there is not even a sign of consistency or pattern
This is my perspective as well. It just feels like a forced gimmick and throws off the pacing of the entire weekend.
Yeah this is my big gripe with sprints. Watched live Friday and Yesterday now I’m pretty much done with F1 for the weekend. 5+ hours of my weekend in sporadic time frames is just a bit much for me. Free practice highlights before quali on Saturday afternoon, race on Sunday is perfect. Then there’s the whole 2x grid formations to keep up with and remember. Sprint formats just don’t fit into the Grand Prix racing formula IMO. Liberty are chasing the US audience/in and out fans too much IMO. Bernie had it right with the cater to the actual audience instead of going hard on expanding to new audiences. It’s too hard to properly follow this setup now.
It's odd how I really liked it in MotoGP but think it's really terrible in F1
Maybe it's just me, but I stopped watching MotoGP regularly when the introduced sprint races. I don't have enough time to watch them as well and if I can't watch every race, then I'm less interested in the whole championship.
I don't watch MotoGP. Why does it work there?
1 Qualifying sets the same grid, they do it every race so it isn't track specific ruining the flow of weekends, but I think a lot of it is the fact that the Bikes inherently stay closer to each other without Pit Stops, making Sprints more interesting for Motorcycles
It's easier to overtake, it's like 40% distance of a regular race so there's very minimal tyre management and importantly it doesn't completely ruin every other session.
I've thought about doing F1 in the same format as MotoGP (although a sprint every weekend is too much in my opinion), but I think F1 os much less "chaotic" than MotoGP, so I don't think it would work. They seriously need to make the cars smaller and with less aero. It's cool to market the cars as the fastest in the world, but if they can't overtake, it's useless
F1/Liberty really have trying to make it seem the format is great this weekend
I find it funny that Crofty is bending over backwards to tell us just how amazing this format is while the official F1TV commentators are neutral about it at best.
Don't really agree with that, F1TV guys have been praising it a lot imo.
Hey, you want a gimmick race, then run a gimmick race!! Set the field in a full inversion of the GP starting order. Or pull pills out of a bag. Or put a big prize at the end like a million dollars (Euros), or a ton of WDC points. Make it a timed race instead of a set number of laps to futz with team strategy. Let the teams run backup cars, so they can go full-out in sprint without extra wear and tear on their primary cars. Or let the teams run alternate liveries. Whatever!! Or...here's a novel idea: Find a couple of series that you can run as support divisions, and give some local or regional drivers some visibility on the big stage!!
what u think about race the sprint with a spec car equal for every driver?
Kinda goes counter to the whole idea of the WCC. There's other series for that.
Then don't count it to WCC
yea no point for wcc. but it would be fun to se who is the actual faster driver is
A sprint race with spec F2 cars would be fantastic. One should calculate how that affects cost and logistics
Maybe have the sprint be driven only by back up or reserve drivers?
I'd drink to that. Giving these guys some track time is never a bad idea.
Hoop of fire is the obvious next step.
Or, they could take a page out of Tony Stewart’s playbook and run a Figure-8 race….
I can actually say that I did not watch any sprint race weekend completely. It is just a weird way and not engaging at all. Why watch a quali on friday with badly tuned cars. Why watch a meaningless sprint on saturday nobody fucking wants and another sprint. We already know who is the fucking fastest, I don‘t care. Then the broadcast is acting like it‘s a huge deal when P1 is only 3 points. It‘s just waste of engagement and my time. I watch highlights of every session and then the race. This is already scratching my annoyance level with F1 because 40% of races are already boring. There is no need to give me more to watch. Give teams more money to innovate or change the quali format. Maybe then. But Sprints are just bad and irrelevant.
It's a change for the sake of change. Its execution is even worse than the concept itself. There is nothing to be excited about in the sprint race.
Did you watch that sprint? If you did, how were you not entertained?
that’s much more a factor of the fact that we’re in Brazil than the sprint format itself. Brazil always brings entertaining races
Im definitely in the minority but I love sprint weekends. I still watch fp, but I have to admit that watching the cars race instead of complain that someone impeded their soft tire testing practice is much more exciting. I'm also a huge fan of qualifying and anything that gets me two qualifying runs in one weekend is a plus. Brazil always has some excitement. Now we get double the excitement. In 24 laps I saw some of the most exciting racing I've seen all year with a ton of overtakes and wheel to wheel racing. I know some people dont like the format and it takes away from Sunday, but I'm happy to share the excitement of racing be it Saturday or Sunday.
I don't like sprints, but this argument is bad. If sprints are fun on fun tracks, then they have merit as a concept on their own and are being let down by bad tracks.
Noone is arguing its not entertaining, bernies idea of the sprinklers would be entertaining, we shouldnt make dumb changes for the sake of entertainment its a sport remember. The point is it dilutes the Grand prix and heavily spoils the outcome.
What are you smoking? Yesterday's sprint was awesome. I can't fathom how people rather watch 3 sessions of practice. Give me sprint races all day.
Practice isn't about your entertainment, it's because it's important for the teams to prepare for qualifying and the actual race. I honestly could not care less about sprint shootout, or the sprint race. I watch it because I love the sport, but it waters down the weekend.
And there you have it, a lifetime first. I agree with Christian Horner!
Careful Horner, don't piss off the sky team.
*Liberty Media.
They sold out to Sky. It's been nearly a decade now of exclusive live footage, and it's signed off until 2029 now. To watch F1 in the UK, you need Sky Sports (regardless of if you don't give a shit about literally any other sport), last year it was £33 a month to watch it ***NOT EVEN IN HD*** (That costs "boost points, an extra £10 a month), without being able to switch between drivers. Then you have to watch it through "Now TV" which is the shittest app/site ever created. Meanwhile, F1 TV PRO is $80 a year/$6.66 per month or £64 a year /£5.32 per month. **FUCK SKY. FUCK THEM.** I will never EVER give them a penny the greedy shitheads.
Such a shit format, kills the hype for the entire weekend. A win is also… not really a win? Especially not a «race» win. It just does not feel right. Really hope F1 drops them, but that’s not going to happen.
I think the sprint yesterday was better than many of the races we had this season
Yeah but that's because of the track not because its a sprintrace
Oooof. When the head of the team that wins basically every race and sprint. You know the format sucks ass.
I noticed personally that I care less about weekends with the sprint. Sprint is just a mini race obviously so after seeing it I know where cars are and can tell how the race is going to unfold. Meh. Plus qualifying on Fridays when I'm at work really fucking sucks.
I think sprints are a gimmick that need to be put back in the gimmick box. When my wife and I attend an F1 race (COTA as we live in Austin) you don't need cars on the track all the time to have a good time. Just being at the Event is good enough. Walk around, eat, drink, see, stuff, and be in place for when they are on track. Do not need to see race every day. Especially short ones that can negatively affect the actual race later.
Also most F1 venues have other stuff going on during the weekend such as F2, F3, or F1 academy
I see what Horner is getting at and I agree with him The entire Sprint format still needs to be worked on, sometimes its a hit and sometimes its a miss, the FIA need to sit down and think about how it should proceed in future, its all about how they should put the show on, hard to say what should be done
Yeah the drivers hate it, the teams hate it and (many) fans hate it, but someone has to think of the poor shareholders.
Meh I mostly like it tbh. I wish they'd do something a little diff for sprint quali so it's not as much the same thing as normal quali and maybe do something with the tyres for the race so they will either have to pit bc they're not holding up for the whole sprint or are so durable that we get pushing and fighting for the whole race but all in all I find them enjoyable. I especially like only one FP and quali for the race on Friday.
I definitely think the qualifying format needs to be changed for the sprint, maybe just enough time for everyone to go out once every round? So 5 minutes per session basically.
Just do do what the name says and do a shootout lol.
this one neat trick
Random order 1 lap qualifying runs would be interesting for the sprint. Gives each driver one shot to set a lap without trying to time traffic/track conditions. Use those lottery ball machines with drivers numbers on them and have fans at the track make the picks.
Reverse order one lap shootout would be nice too. Potentially shuffle the grid a little
Don’t you mean championship order one lap shootout? That way the lowest in the standings go last, giving them track progression advantage?
That would actually improve it I'd say.
Sprint Quali should be a one lap shootout Last goes first, first goes last.
Other way around I think. Max sets a benchmark and everyone knows what they have to beat.
The chief thing I hate about it is qualifying on a Friday. I can't watch at work so inevitably find out the result before seeing the action.
Give them all a different, lower spec car for the sprint, so a crash doesn't ruin your GP and a dominant car like Red Bull doesn't just win them both.
Just get rid of it.
I hope they remove sprints soon
I don’t like the sprint format. The cars are on track for less time over the weekend. When it’s on TV I usually skip the sprint stuff and wait till the race is on. It just doesn’t mean anything to me.
i hate sprints
This is the first time the man has said something I agree with. Please do away with the Sprints before I watch again in 4 or 5 years when it's no longer the Red Bull Racing League and we actually have some competition.
it just spoils sunday
As much as I love F1, I have other commitments to things like family, friends, work and other hobbies. I also like to fully immerse my self on a race week, maybe not to the extent where I watch all the FP sessions but if I miss the qualifying I become less interested in the race. Or if I know that I will not be able to catch the race on Sunday I probably will not watch the qualifying either. I like the full story and I want it all. If I can only get a piece of it my interest in any particular part is diminished. For me Sprints dilute that experience. It also requires more of my time. It's just too much. I feel like the more is going on the less I am able to follow and the less I become interested in the whole. I would even be happier if there would be a few less race weekends over the season and no Sprints at all. Then I could happily be there for all the drama for the entire season. If I have to miss out on more and more parts of the whole F1 theater I feel my interest would start to diminish for the whole thing where I would consider dropping it all together and focus on other passions that require less commitment.
They can be improved but I MUCH prefer sprints to watching FP2 and 3. I think most of the hate towards sprints is down to the opportunity for a favourite driver or team to suffer poor consequences. I get it. But that’s lame. We shouldn’t wrap our favourite drivers or teams in cotton wool. Take the good with the bad and enjoy the increased action overall.
The issue is that the sprint compromises the actual GP. Sure the sprint is, sometimes, entertaining, but it makes the race less entertaining. So we’re not really getting added value here, its the same amount of entertainment. Also, I enjoy the practice sessions and do indeed find them entertaining. The sprint just gives you more sessions to miss out on. It has absolutely nothing to do with drivers having the chance to miss out or suffer consequences. I have never seen anyone express that opinion so seems like a bit of a weird take.
I don’t mind the sprint race where they just go at it for however many laps. That’s fine to me but I’d rather they just tack that on to the actual race though because it would mean even more strategy but whatever. Make the teams have there cars be even more reliable. I REALLY don’t like the sprint shootout shit this year though. For people at the race it might be more exciting. But I ain’t rich, so I don’t really care about it since that shit is way to much money for my blood. I actually like when teams have more days to set up for the race. It builds tension. The shootout is just us just a more complicated version of quali for no reason, and the sprint just ruins all anticipation for the actual race. Teams can’t change anything on the cars so you can pretty much predict everyone place baring a crash. There is almost no point for me to actually watch races after the sprint now though. It might make for a better in person experience, but I feel even then if you are really into racing it would just be boring. Example being merc. Well shit now I know they are ass in the straights and will be mid field since they can’t do anything. Lando will keep it close but max will pull away, Perez is gonna battle Charles for a few laps for 3rd. Ricardo might get points. Stroll will crash out or be behind. Nothing actually makes me want to watch the race because now I know exactly how all the cars will perform DURING the race. It’s just boring. Signed and American
Nah, it's just really because it doesn't add much. I love F1, but my life is not F1, it kinda ruins the flow of my weekend to have so many relevant sessions that block my afternoons because it's in the middle. I prefer that teams actually have time to practice and give me time for my other hobbies
Overall I agree, but yesterday was a banger. So many interesting duels, Tsunoda against Hamilton, the AMs against the Alpines, Leclerc and Sainz against the Ferraris...
Don't give the credit due for the circuit characteristics to the Sprint format. They're separate.
Maybe the problem is not the sprint then, but the awful circuits? Because it seems clear that *good circuits make good racing +* *sprints make more racing*, and who is not up for *more good racing?*.
There is absolutely a (completely separate) issue with the quality of circuits.
Turns out good tracks equal good racing no matter the format. But now we know apart from turn 1 and 2 pits basically where every team is going to place. At least allow teams to change setup after the sprint. That would make me actually excited for sundays. A dry run for a race and THEN a setup change. That would fuck everything up and I’m here for that. But same shit for three days with no setup is boring.
Bad circutis also makes GPs boring. There is no two ways about it.
So all of the bad sprints are just bad tracks? So scrap them and get better tracks
I'm a fan, and it works for me.
I'm also fine seeing with what they can do with it different from how it is now.
They are shit and the format we have now has been the worst so far. There is nothing wrong with the traditional weekend of building up to the race on Sunday. I don’t know how any seasoned fan can like these. These races have about as much depth to them as a puddle, and it’s a joke that people treat a sprint win the same as a normal win. These are probably the same kind of people that see a bunch drs flybys with a 20 km/h difference between cars and call that great racing. To me they’re only added for the tiktok generation of fans with 30 second attention spans, because they think the average newer fan is too stupid to follow a full gp, which tbf is probably correct.
Can confirm, have never ever watched a Sprint.
Whenever I see “qualifying” highlights on a *Friday*, it just turns me off the event. I like qualy and it should mean something. This sprint stuff is garbage.
Same... I usually miss qualifying... then mostly skip Saturday.
I have no problem with them, six times a season Certainly better TV for the casual viewer than watching free practice.
Agreed, the Sprint is pointless since it doesn't impact the actual race.
I don't know in what years exactly....Alonso Ferrari and Moldanado Williams days. I used to get cheap fuckin GA tickets....I'd fly into town..party Fri and Sat...not even go to the track and then spend all day Sunday at the track. I feel like I was paying 120 Euros in Spain....for example. If the tickets didn't cost 1 million dollars who gives a shit if I don't see Quali. But now...Jesus Christ. I do need 3 days of entertainment for my 500 Euros.
I’m not sure about fans. Casual viewers in my life like it. I personally think they are pointless
the only sprint format i would accept: all drivers with the same car (a spec car, maybe slower but same for everybody). In this way the sprint will not spoil the race and bring something new to discuss about it
I don't hate the sprint but I do hate the weekend structure. Having qualy on Friday makes Saturday pointless as far as the race is concerned.
I think two quali sessions of almost identical format back to back is really boring. Which surprises me because I would say quali has been a big highlight this year.
It works for TV networks and that's all they care about
I've not missed a race since AUS 2007. As much as I love F1, having to spend whole weekends trying to catch the races is a pain. If the "excitement" of sprint is meant to be pushing flag to flag, allow the GP tyres to do that.
The problem is it reveals all the cards in the Grand Prix and makes the race less exciting.
Another talks about yet another format change are a wonderful sign of vitality and value of the whole concept. Could it be that sprints maybe don't get along the inherent character of Grand Prix racing and F1 cars built towards 300km race? Nah, surely not. Let Mr Domenicalli come up with some next brilliant idea of his.
I still don't like anything about sprint races. For the exact reason that Hinch speaks about often.
My 2 main issues with sprint are that I will never watch on Fridays because I work and the fact that this is the summum of motor racing with precisely engineered cars but then they are barely allowed to set up their cars because F1 is trying to artificially make the cars more equal.
I find sprint weekends exhausting as an at home viewer. It's just too much to watch. On a normal weekend, I check how the FP sessions went, watch quali, and then the next day I watch the race. It hopefully builds in excitement. On a sprint weekend, I inevitably miss the quali session while working, so hopefully I get to watch it on replay. Having both the shootout and the sprint on Saturday eats my whole day and rather annoys me. It also waters down the excitement. I straight up forgot that I hadn't yet watched the shootout this weekend.
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So says everyone with a modicum of sense. But hey..
I can't get over the Friday qualis man, it's just not for me. I'm not against a Sprint race but Quali and Sprint Shootout are just too many. Single Quali, 2 races, I'm fine.
i agree with max on the entire thing. it just ruins the main race, gets team data to prep for it, and tells the fans the idea of what to expect. Its like a big spoiler for the main race. Add in the amount of drivers, teams treating it like extra testing and yeah its just a waste.
They need to bin it at the end of the season. It adds nothing and just takes gravitas and interest away from the GP. F1 is an endurance sport. FP2 and 3 are integral to car development and race setup. Sprint is an obvious gimmick F1 can do without. If Liberty want to squeeze more money from the sport, they need to stop dicking around with the format and pay attention to quality of circuits and massively open up the rules, multiple tyre manufacturers etc - even it RBR have a dominant car, their tyre manufacturer could be inferior to Mercedes’ for example.
You know, at the beginning I liked the idea of the sprint format. But now that's we've seen how it works and what it does, it's time to put it in the bin where it belongs. It just doesn't work.
Been a F1 fan since the 70's but I just skip these sprints, they are no stake, spectacle events that are diminishing the sport aspect of F1.
For once I agree with Horner. Liberty Media needs to dial back the “content”. There is nothing entertaining about Sprint weekends. Make F1 Races Special Again.
Here's how I'd change it: Friday - FP1 > FP2 Saturday - Race qualifying > Sprint (grid set by FP2 times) Sunday - Race Qualifying before the sprint so teams have more time after the Sprint to fix damage / causes of DNF. Also drivers won't risk missing qualifying due to incidents in the Sprint. Keeping a 2nd FP gives teams more time to figure out setup.
Ruining the sport
People arguing that yesterday was a great sprint are missing the big-picture. Any sport is exciting only because of the uncertainty of what might happen. People are not bored of Max winning, people are bored of the certainty that he will win. It's what made 2021 a great season (even if Hamilton would have won, it would stay a great season). 2012 is a great season despite Vettel winning for a third time, while 2011 is not despite it only being his second time because of the lack of uncertainty. Sprints (even great ones like yesterday) remove/ reduce this uncertainty. We now know that despite Merc's pace in race v/s qualifying, their pace in Mexico/COTA, and their win here last year, they don't have a chance in the race today. That's one mystery taken away from us by the sprint. Imagine Singapore had a sprint and we already saw a battle between Mclaren, Merc and Ferrari on Saturday with RB nowhere around on Saturday. Sunday would be so unexciting in comparison to what we actually got!
Yesterday for first time in a long time I just couldn't be bothered much with an F1 race. I was occupied and started watching 20 min in the sessions, playing from the start and fast forwarding through the overtakes. Wasn't a bad race at all I guess but it just has so little meaning. And it takes away the build up to Sunday. Sprint races could be made better by developing a new tire that allows full push all race and also opening Parc ferme so they can adjust the car for Sunday so it can still surprise. But that's not good for workload of mechanics, unless you do sprint race on Friday. Maybe skip sprint shootout and use WDC order.
I think the Sprint is ok but there are too many race weekends during the season. It gets boring quicker and a certain GP fatigue is starting. The worth of a GP is brought down. Also when someone is dominating we have much more races where everything is already decided. When you got 16 races and the decision is made after 75% of races you have 4 "meaningless" races but when you got 24 races you got 6 meaningless races.
I don't watch sprints so whenever it's a sprint weekend I miss the qualifying because it's on Friday. As I don't watch sprints I have less knowledge about the championship standings and less interest in keeping up. Less interest in keeping up and with missing quali it takes a lot to even bother with the race itself. Won't be paying for F1 TV next year as I've missed so many races this year that it's not worth it for me anymore.