The F1 Sprint Format Evaluated
We’ve seen what it entails, but was it any good?
When it was announced that Formula One was changing the weekend format for three Grands Prix this season, there was a lot of scepticism and cynicism as to what it would look like and why it was being done.
Those three weekends have come and gone, so now is as good a time as any to evaluate just how impactful it has been on the season, and whether the system works or if it needs to be changed.
Firstly, the big question is whether the original system even needed changing. Frankly, it probably didn’t.
However, speaking at pre-season testing in Bahrain, Ross Brawn explained the thinking behind the Sprint, which was to give the weekend a more full experience.
“We want the winner of the Grand Prix to come away from those weekends still being the strongest and most successful competitor of that weekend,” said Brawn.
“But we want to fill out the weekend and we want to give the fans something more substantial to look at and follow on a Friday, something interesting on a Saturday.”
So, after three weekends did the Sprint sessions live up to those ideas put forward by the Technical Director for the Formula One Group?
It all started at Silverstone in July. Max Verstappen led the championship by 32 points going into the weekend and we all know what happened on the Sunday to see that fall to just eight points.
But, before all of that, there was a Friday and Saturday that saw full crowds return to F1 for the first time since 2019.
The qualifying session on the Friday was genuinely thrilling. Lewis Hamilton took the Pirelli Speed King Award — yes, it was really called that — much to the delight of his adoring home crowd.
This worked out incredibly well, it kept the spirit of qualifying, and what makes it great, and just put it on during a Friday evening. This was much better than watching Practice one and two, where very little of note happens.
At Monza and Brazil, this was also the case. Having something competitive on Friday was enjoyable. Would it be good at every track? Maybe not. How much time are fans supposed to spend watching teams compete?
Then there was the actual Sprint session itself. Other than a few awkward wordings in how we hand out pole position, or whether the event was a race or not, everything was pretty straightforward with this.
The cars raced and where they finished is where they started the main race on Sunday.
As races they were all pretty mundane. Fernando Alonso was the star in Silverstone, jumping seven cars in the opening lap. But, not a whole lot else happened.
It did have an impact on the championship as Verstappen earned an extra point over his rival Hamilton. This took his lead in the standings to 33 points.
It could also be argued that both drivers learned their lessons on the Saturday and brought that with them to the aggressive start we saw on Sunday that saw the two collide.
Sergio Perez also learned the hard way just how costly a mistake in the Sprint can be. His spin sent him right to the back of the grid, from which he never recovered.
Pierre Gasly learned that lesson, too, in Monza. His weekend also never recovered from his crash on the opening lap of the Italian Sprint.
Monza was chosen as the temple of speed, but it has been a poor circuit for overtaking under the current regulations. Other than on the first lap, barely anything happened during the other 17 laps.
This was the fundamental issue with testing out the Sprint format this season. These cars just aren’t that good for overtaking, or following others.
In Brazil, we saw more overtaking, but a large reason for that was Hamilton’s sheer speed while starting from the back.
His charge through the field was thrilling, but if he had started from the p1 position he thought he’d earned on Friday then the Sprint would’ve been a whole lot less interesting.
That Hamilton started from the back also allowed Verstappen a chance to extend his current championship lead, which he did by two points.
Hamilton also had a poor showing in Monza, while Verstappen finished second there as well.
In this close title fight, the Sprint has had an impact in that Verstappen earned seven points to Hamilton’s two.
Those extra five points handed out for a qualifying session, that we never had before, could be the difference the Dutchman needs to secure his first championship.
When it comes to answering the question of whether this improved the weekend format for F1 races, it’s still too early to really say. With the new regulations coming in next season, and six more chances to look at the Sprint, we should be able to give a firmer evaluation then.
There is still reason to be sceptical if this format will work, even with tweaks. The three weekends so far amounted to a C, if it were to be graded.
Brawn also said at pre-season testing that this is still just a trial and it won’t definitively be added, but the way the wind is blowing it’s hard to see them ever giving up on this format.
Let’s hope it works out better in 2022, otherwise something significant will need to change for this to really entice viewers to tune in on a regular basis.
