Formula 1 may be in for yet another shakeup of the Sprint format for the 2024 season, as talks have taken place discussing how best to schedule the sessions to fit the needs of teams and fans alike.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
With the new for 2023 Sprint format facing backlash from both team personnel and spectators, talks have taken place to potentially refresh the schedule once again for the 2024 season. The Sprint has already seen one major overhaul since it’s inaugural running at the 2021 British Grand Prix in Silverstone.
In it’s original Format, Friday saw the running of FP1 followed by qualifying in the afternoon which would set the grid for Saturday afternoon’s Sprint. The winner of the sprint would then go on to start from pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Following a lukewarm reception from fans, an updated schedule was introduced for this season.
For this season’s Sprint weekend’s, Friday running remained the same. Saturday running however saw a change, with the morning’s FP2 sessions replaced by the new Sprint Shootout, a shorter qualifying format. Under the new schedule, Friday qualifying sets the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix, while Saturday running sits separate, having no bearing on the main event on Sunday.
Despite the updated schedule, the Sprint format has yet again failed to make the intended impact with the Formula 1 fan base, with teams and drivers also expressing distaste for the format. To combat this, yet another new schedule is being discussed, with the Sprint Shootout potentially moving to Friday afternoon, the Sprint moving to Saturday morning, and qualifying moving to its rightful slot on Saturday afternoon.
“Friday afternoon qualifying for the Sunday race doesn’t really make sense…”
The suggested changes have already garnered support in the paddock, with Mercedes’ driver George Russell highlighting the importance of qualifying to a Formula 1 weekend as a key factor.
“I agree,” Russell said when asked about the proposed changes. “I think Friday afternoon qualifying for the Sunday race doesn’t really make sense and, for me, the main qualifying and the main race, they’re the big parts of the weekend. They need to be at the tail end.”
“I am not keen on these weekends…”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff also weighed in on the situation, reiterating his overall dislike of the sprint format, but agreeing that the updated schedule makes more sense in the overall scheme.
“We’ve been talking with Stefano [Domenicali],” Wolff confirmed. “It is his decision but then you can correlate it easier… you do the sprint shootout and then the second qualifying for the race, which would be Saturday at two o’clock, which is the time we know. It would maybe create less confusion. I’m getting confused.
“I think we all have the same objectives, between F1 and the teams. I’ve said it often but I am not keen on these weekends but, if it makes sense from the audience’s point of view, then obviously we do need it.”
“Nobody quite knows what to do…”
Also expressing his disdain for the Sprint format was Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who has been vocally against the format from the very beginning. He believes the current format leaves a lot to be desired and suggests a major format change is required, but admits he is unsure what changes should be made.
“I think what we have at the moment isn’t quite right for the drivers, the fans or the teams,” Horner said following the São Paulo Grand Prix weekend. “I think there needs to be more to it. We have just won a sprint race, and nobody quite knows what to do because all the focus is already on the grand prix. It’s like you’ve won a long run and got a medal for it.
“Maybe one thing will be to have an enormous prize fund for the team and drivers,” he suggested. “That’s always a big motivation. Then you will see some celebrating at the end.
“It’s also maybe worth looking at it slightly differently. If you look at a football league or other leagues of sport, they have their main league and then they have cup finals. Maybe you have to look at something that is a little bit different like that, which has a bigger reward attached to it.
“I think there’s an appetite, as you can see from the fans, to have a race on a Saturday. But what should it be? Should it be a reverse grid? Should it be on championship order? Should it have more points attached to it? Should there be two grands prix during the weekend rather than one. I don’t have the answer. But I know what we have today needs tuning.”
“From a technical point of view, it’s a headache.”
Elsewhere in the paddock, Aston Martin’s director of performance Tom McCullough admitted that while the sprint format poses an exciting prospect for fans, it is a headache for the teams to navigate. He believes the format needs to be simplified to avoid confusion for the fans.
“We obviously have the sporting advisory committee meeting this week,” McCullough said. “I’m sure Diego was there and there’s been discussions about how to improve how we go about the Sprint event. The Sprint event was brought in for a reason, you know, the fans. From a technical point of view, it’s a headache. The car goes into parc fermé after one practice session and it is difficult. But from a commercial side and from a fan side, I think there are elements that are exciting.
“It needs tweaking, it’s been tweaked already. I think it needs tweaking a bit more because even my Dad who’s quite an understander and follower of Formula 1 sometimes says to me, ‘so just remind me, is it qualifying on Friday for the main race?’
“I just think if somebody at that level is having questions, the fans are going to get confused. So our job is to put a simpler, better, more understandable format, still have the excitement of two races, I think.”
“There is still not a definitive proposal…”
Meanwhile, Diego Ioverno, Ferrari sporting director, echoed the calls for a shakeup in order to improve the format, while also highlighting the potential difficulties of the proposed changes for the teams.
“It’s possible to improve probably, everybody is having a thought,” Ioverno stated. “We discussed in the Sporting Committee. There is still not a definitive proposal but our target will be once that FIA and F1 have decided the format, teams will have to work together to make it good for the spectators, good for us because it’s quite tricky.
“If you move the Sprint race on Saturday morning, then you have to make sure that you allow enough gap to teams to react for qualifying in case of problems and stuff like that. There are also other options on the table.”
