Sprint Races a Solution No One Asked For
A half-hearted attempt at the original pitch comes at the wrong time anyway.
When the idea of introducing sprint races into Formula One was first floated, it was seen as a potential solution to the problem of processional race victories.
The front-runners of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were so far ahead of the midfield that it was almost like watching two different Formulas compete on the same circuit. It led to people referring to the battle for seventh place as F1.5, such was the gap between the Big Three and the rest.
Of course, the difference between the original pitch and the final product that the FIA announced on Monday afternoon was the exclusion of the reverse-grid concept.
Many initially wanted the starting order of the sprint race to be decided using the reverse of the championship standings. This would’ve pitted the drivers from the Big Three teams right to the back of the grid, elevating the likes of Williams, Haas and Alfa Romeo to the front.
Over the 20 or so laps of the sprint race, those top drivers had every chance of making their way through the field and even landing on pole position. Their pace advantage was so strong that that was considered enough time for those cars to get right up to the front of the field and there would’ve been plenty of overtaking action for them to get there.
Martin Brundle was a strong proponent of this idea. He believed the concept wasn’t going to materially change the result of races, but simply delay the inevitability of them.
“Seeing normally front-running cars out of position and fighting through the pack made me immediately think again about occasional reverse championship-standing Saturday qualifying races in order to set the main race grid,” wrote Brundle in September of last year.
“This would give the smaller teams some oxygen out front for a while, would force teams to design cars which are better at overtaking instead of just aero-optimised for speed, and make for some fascinating must-watch action.
“The same car and driver would win the championship, just later, and by not such a margin. Let’s at least try it at a suitable track just as we are trying a two-day meeting at Imola and a different track layout in Bahrain.”
The argument he made was sound, but those in charge of the decision making have drawn up a version that has excluded the main goal behind the entire idea.
Naturally, the drivers from these top teams were against the idea. Sebastian Vettel described it as a “plaster,” solution to F1’s problems.
Now, the concept will involve three race weekends in 2021 following a new format. Friday will see one Practice session, followed by Qualifying. Saturday will have a further Practice session under Parc fermé conditions, followed by the Sprint Race which will decide the grid for Sunday’s race.
There will also be six championship points on offer for each of the Sprint Races. Three will be awarded to first, two to second and one to third. The races will also be completed on one tyre set so there will be no pit stops except in extreme circumstances, such as a puncture.
The punishment for such an incident, or a race-ending crash, will now see that driver stuck to the back of the grid on Sunday — even potentially with worse parts on their car due to damages.
This rewards safe and effective driving and deters drivers from actually racing. If, say, someone is in sixth place and they are closing in on fifth, the reward for completing that overtake is minimal. There are no points on offer and the risk of causing an incident is far greater than the extra grid slot for the actual race on Sunday.
It also must be said that the two qualifying sessions from the 2021 season so far have both been incredible spectacles. The fight for every position was intense and exciting. That entertainment will now be diminished by qualifying only mattering towards an event that has little reward.
At Imola, mistakes cost the likes of Max Verstappen the chance to take pole. However, the Dutchman took the race lead from third place into the first corner. He then led the race from start to finish. This sprint race idea, in its current guise, simply gives the audience the chance to see Verstappen do that twice in one weekend.
For now, it looks like this will only be trialed at Silverstone and Monza, with a third unknown track to be announced alongside them. While these circuits are very fast paced, the current cars have struggled for overtaking moves at both tracks.
In fact, the last three Grands Prix at Monza have been determined by a quicker car struggling to overtake the race leader for the majority of the race — and it was only in 2018 that Lewis Hamilton managed to pass Kimi Raikkonen to win.
This idea now looks a missed opportunity. The 2020 season would’ve been a much better candidate to mess around with the qualifying format — which, let’s face it, has been almost perfect for almost 15 years anyway. There was one dominant team in Mercedes, and there were venues that were used back to back.
Austria, Britain and Bahrain all could’ve used the sprint race idea to spice up the second races held there in the double headers. Instead, this format may end up deciding an exciting looking championship battle.
It may also lead to the championship being decided earlier with the extra points on offer. Everyone wants the battle between Mercedes and Red Bull to go to the wire and this new format has the chance to take that away from the fans.
All judgements will be reserved until the plan can be taken into action. After all, seeing is believing, but there are enough reasons to be concerned already. This half-baked idea could still turn out to be great, but with the 2022 regulations supposedly set to equalise racing between the teams anyway, it all seems rather pointless in the end.
