Sprint races are a huge part of Formula One now. Introduced in 2021, the Sprint format gives an opportunity for close racing action and it is the time where drivers can try to score as many points as possible. In an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali shares his thoughts on the future difficulties and ideas to make grand prix racing more spectacular.
Formula One is known for its action-packed racing and Domenicali’s main aim is to not take away its essence despite the criticism Liberty Media has received recently for introducing the Sprint feature. But as Sprint races continued, the initial bitterness that the Sprint format had has now completely gone and this current season, sprint weekends are by far the best which is packed with action.
“I remember when we introduced them we had a lot of criticism from the purists – who we need to always listen to, even to the ones who are not happy with it,” Domenicali said.
Domenicali is convinced that sprints are effective even if he believes the sceptics shouldn’t be disregarded entirely. He is actually not opposed to hold eight sprints per year, provided that the grid could perhaps be spiced up a little.
He continued,
“But I feel that now the thing has shifted completely the other way around. I think that the change we’ve introduced this year is the right one for many reasons – with separate qualifying and parc ferme. The flow is much better today.”
Domenicali is in favour of reverse grids even though he is an F1 purist at heart.
“Some people can say, ‘Oh, it is a fake way of racing.’ Fake? There is nothing fake related to what you believe is the right format to produce great action. So I would be interested to discuss that again. Yes.”
He finds it particularly puzzling because the typical Formula One weekend schedule permit three practice session that have no purpose other than to assist the engineer, at a time when teams are executing never-ending simulations to refine their setups.
“I think that we are on the right path. We are doing the right things, and the excitement that we bring in the sprint race is very clear, because a lot of promoters would like to have them. So now it’s a good moment to see what is the best venue to have good action, and also the best place to be divided in the calendar to create the right frequency.”
