Sprint Races – Syndication Server

Verstappen unsold on sprints – ‘Just scrap the whole thing’

Max Verstappen wants Formula 1 to scrap sprint weekends and focus instead on finding ways to close the field after the first Saturday of the year run to the tweaked trial format. F1 introduced the sprint format in 2021 as a trial to address the …

Max Verstappen wants Formula 1 to scrap sprint weekends and focus instead on finding ways to close the field after the first Saturday of the year run to the tweaked trial format.

F1 introduced the sprint format in 2021 as a trial to address the balance between competitive track time and practice sessions. This year there will be six sprint rounds, the first of which is this weekend in Azerbaijan.

Under the original sprint rules, qualifying was moved to Friday and set the grid for a 30-minute, 62-mile race in the previous qualifying slot in the schedule on Saturday. The results of the sprint would then set the starting order for Sunday’s grand prix.

The rules were tweaked this week to give the sprint its own qualifying session and to have the results stand alone, with Sunday’s grid instead set directly by qualifying on Friday evening.

Verstappen has been the sprint format’s highest profile critic, and earlier this year he intimated that too many changes to the weekend schedule could see him pull the plug on his F1 career early.

Qualifying and finishing third for the first sprint of 2023 in Baku has done little to change his mind.

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“Just scrap the whole thing,” he said when asked what changes he would make to improve sprint schedule. “I think it’s just important to go back to what we have and make sure every team can fight for the win. That’s what we have to try and aim for and implement.

“I got bored through today’s qualifying, to be honest. I like to have one particular qualifying where you put everything in it, and that was yesterday, which I of course enjoyed.

“Then you have to do it again today, like, ‘My god, another qualifying.’ I just don’t really enjoy that.”

Verstappen had earlier criticized sprint racing for being against the “DNA” of Formula 1, and after recovering to third after a first-lap battle with George Russell that left him with significant car damage, the Dutchman reiterated his belief that the shortened races weren’t compatible with the grand prix tour.

Instead he wants the sport to find ways to make the grid more competitive without tinkering with the format.

“It’s not proper racing — more gambling,” he said. “I think I’ll have more success in Vegas if I go to the casino.

“I like racing; I’m a pure racer. I think this is more for the show, and of course it is important to have entertainment, but I think if all the cars are closer, you create…better entertainment than trying to do it like this.

“It feels like you have a football match it’s 3-0 for one team and then suddenly you just say, ‘Let’s reset it to 0-0 and go again.’ I find it a bit unnecessary, these kinds of things.”

Perez overhauls Leclerc for Baku sprint win

Sergio Perez eased to a comfortable victory at the Azerbaijan sprint ahead of Charles Leclerc. Perez started from second alongside Leclerc but couldn’t jump the Ferrari off the line. The race was then neutralized at the end of the first lap with a …

Sergio Perez eased to a comfortable victory at the Azerbaijan sprint ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Perez started from second alongside Leclerc but couldn’t jump the Ferrari off the line. The race was then neutralized at the end of the first lap with a safety car owing to Yuki Tsunoda crashing his car at Turn 14.

Leclerc managed the restart beautifully when the race resumed on lap 6 of 17, but his SF-23 wasn’t a match for the RB19’s straight-line speed, particularly with DRS enabled down the long front straight.

On lap 8 Perez had breezed past, his rear wing wide open, and he galloped to a straightforward victory by 4.463s.

“To get away with maximum points today was the main objective, but obviously we know that tomorrow is the main race,” Perez said. “I think there was good learning today.

“P3 (on the grid) is not ideal for tomorrow’s race, but I’ll give it a go and fight for the win.”

Leclerc tried to stick with Perez, but his attention soon had to turn rearwards, where Max Verstappen had appeared after recovering from a slow start.

Verstappen was sucked into a battle with George Russell off the line that saw the two make contact into Turn 2 as the Mercedes car attempted a dive down the inside.

The light collision inflicted some bodywork damage to the Red Bull machine – including a big gash down the left-hand sidepod – and Verstappen then did himself no favors by kissing the wall at the outside of Turn 3, which handed Russell the position shortly before the safety car intervened.

Verstappen struck back at the restart and set his sights on the top two, but his damaged car wasn’t up to the task of closing down the Ferrari despite getting within DRS range, and Leclerc was allowed to escape with second position.

The Monegasque said the result confirmed his suspicions that Ferrari still hasn’t closed the gap in race pace.

“It confirms a little bit what we thought,” he said. “The Red Bull still has the upper hand in the race.

“But we again must not forget how far we were behind in race pace two races ago. We did a step forward.”

Verstappen was still fuming about the Russell incident after getting out of the car and accosted the Briton in parc ferme.

“I just don’t understand why you need to take so much risk on lap one,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.

“It’s fine. We still got into P3, got some good points, but it is what it is.”

The gaps through much of the field stabilized in the final three or four laps as drivers struggled to keep their tires from graining.

George Russell kept Carlos Sainz at bay to secure fourth, while Fernando Alonso moved up from eighth to sixth after his Aston Martin’s faulty DRS started working again.

Lewis Hamilton pipped Lance Stroll in the final points-paying places of seventh and eighth.

Alex Albon finished ninth ahead of Oscar Piastri, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly and Nyck de Vries.

Nico Hulkenberg had been battling with Haas teammate Magnussen but suffered sudden onset of tire graining in the final few laps that dropped him to 15th.

Valtteri Bottas was one of two drivers to start on the soft tire rather than mediums and complained his rubber was “melting” in the closing stage of the sprint.

He finished only just ahead of Lando Norris, who was the other soft-starting driver, but the Briton pitted for mediums on lap 10 in a strategy decision that will surely have generated some useful data for the team ahead of Sunday.

Esteban Ocon was the final finisher after starting from pit lane owing to a suspension change made in parc ferme. He will also have to start Sunday’s grand prix from the pits.

Verstappen doubles down on F1 quit threat

Max Verstappen has reiterated a threat to walk away from Formula 1 if it continues to put what he considers to be business priorities ahead of sport. This weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the first of six sprint rounds this season but the first …

Max Verstappen has reiterated a threat to walk away from Formula 1 if it continues to put what he considers to be business priorities ahead of sport.

This weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the first of six sprint rounds this season but the first run to an altered format, with the shortened Saturday race getting its own qualifying session and standing alone from the main event on Sunday.

Verstappen stirred controversy at the Australian Grand Prix when asked about the changes, telling Portuguese TV that he “won’t be around for too long” if the sport continues tinkering with its weekend format and increasing the number of events in a season.

Asked in Baku whether his quit threat was serious, Verstappen pointed out that he’s always intended for his F1 career to be short.

“I always said that anyway, even if there won’t be any more sprint races or whatever,” he said. “But yeah, I do feel that if it’s getting at one point too much, it’s time for a change.”

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Verstappen has described changes to the format as antithetical to the sport’s DNA, and this week he said that’s because F1 was taking a commercial-led approach to the weekend rather than one led by competition.

“I look at it from a racing point of view, and probably F1 looks at it from a business point of view,” he said. “Of course I understand. These sprint races, they probably add a bit more excitement. But I look at it from the racing point of view.

“Normally when you then do the sprint races, that’s exciting — few shunts in there, damage, blah, blah, blah, safety car, a bit more excitement — but throughout the race you get quite a clear picture of what is happening, who is quickest, so you also have quite a clear view on what is going to happen on the next day.

“That probably takes a bit the shine away from the main event, which I think always should be the special event.”

Sprint races might increase the action, but Verstappen worries they detract from the Grand Prix proper. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Verstappen also used the opportunity to speak candidly about his future more broadly, admitting that his motivation to compete through an expanded calendar was something he was constantly assessing to prevent himself from burning out.

“I do like racing, I do like winning. I know that [with] the salary and everything, you have a good life. But is it actually a good life?” he said.

“If we keep expanding the calendar and the whole weekend is that long, at one point you question yourself: Is it worth it?

“I think you always have to be talking to yourself, looking to yourself. Are you still motivated, fully motivated, and do you love what you do? At the moment that is definitely the case. There will for sure be a point where you want to do maybe other stuff as well.

“Sometimes it sounds very weird for people from the outside because they’re saying, ‘Ah, you’re in Formula 1, you’re winning,’ and probably I would have said the same when I was in their position. But once you’re in it, it’s not always how it looks like or how people think your life is. Yes, it’s great — it’s amazing, you can do a lot of things, very independent — but there is always a limit.”

The Dutchman said he wasn’t the only one thinking critically about the workload of a growing calendar, with other drivers and team members at risk of walking away as the sport encroaches further into the private lives of its participants.

“I think every person is a bit different,” he said. “It also depends what you want out of your life.

“Some people just love racing, and that’s the only thing they know or the only thing they want to do. I’m probably a bit more in the middle. I do love racing, but I also want to do other kinds of racing, and then you can’t combine the two or set up other kinds of stuff.

“I think when you do that amount of races, not only the drivers but also staff and the team, it’s a lot of people who will struggle with that.”

Sargeant looks to lean on F2 experience for Baku sprint

Williams rookie Logan Sargeant thinks his recent Formula 2 experience could give him a leg up in Formula 1’s new condensed sprint format. The F2 weekend format offers far less time for practice than F1’s usual schedule, with drivers allowed only 45 …

Williams rookie Logan Sargeant thinks his recent Formula 2 experience could give him a leg up in Formula 1’s new condensed sprint format.

The F2 weekend format offers far less time for practice than F1’s usual schedule, with drivers allowed only 45 minutes of free running on Friday compared to the three hours ordinarily afforded to their premier-class counterparts across two days.

Qualifying usually follows around two hours later on the same day rather than the next afternoon, with Saturday reserved for the sprint race and Sunday comprising the longer feature race.

This weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is the first to be run under the sport’s new sprint rules, which are remarkably similar to the F2 format, particularly with one hour of practice leading into a qualifying session to set the grid for Sunday’s race.

But while some have theorized that the reduced practice time could hinder rookie drivers like Sargeant, the Floridian sees it as an advantage on account of his 2022 F2 campaign.

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“It’s difficult going to tracks you don’t know extremely well, but I think this one I’m fairly comfortable coming into,” he said. “It kind of gives me a chance to have an F2 mentality coming into Friday, because it’s an hour of free practice straight into qualifying. I’m fresh off of doing that last year, and I think we’re going to be in for a decent weekend.”

Sargeant (middle) walks the Baku circuit on Thursday. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images

Although the tweaked format has been introduced to try to prompt the drivers to race more aggressively on Saturday, Sargeant is approaching the weekend as a chance to turbocharge progress on his F1 learning curve.

“I’m honestly quite excited to have two qualis and two races — just a chance for me to gain more experience under pressure situations,” he said. “It just gives me a chance to have two goes at it.

“OK, obviously there are more important points to the weekend, but I think it’s a really good opportunity for me to keep building on my experiences. To be able to have two qualis is huge for me, and the sprint race will be a great chance for me to really prep for the GP on Sunday.”

Sargeant also has the benefit of having had a strong weekend at this track last season, having finished second in the feature race from seventh on the grid.

“My first time here was last year, and I really enjoyed the weekend as a whole,” he said. “I got a bit of a different experience here last year, but it ended up working out well and I had a great weekend, so I’m looking forward to being back.”

That race was typically action-packed, with five drivers retiring from crash damage, and Sargeant is primed for more of the same.

“I think it’s going to be eventful,” he said. “I think if you look at it in an opportunistic type of way, then it can be good.

“You’re definitely going to have to keep out of trouble, because I’m sure it’s going to be hectic, but I’m just going to take what’s put down.”

F1 introduces shootout qualifying for sprint races

Changes to the sprint format have been approved by the F1 Commission and FIA World Motor Sport Council, including a new qualifying to be known as the “sprint shootout.” As previously reported by RACER, Formula 1 teams had agreed to remove FP2 from …

Changes to the sprint format have been approved by the F1 Commission and FIA World Motor Sport Council, including a new qualifying to be known as the “sprint shootout.”

As previously reported by RACER, Formula 1 teams had agreed to remove FP2 from the sprint weekend as it had limited value, with the target of improving the on-track action in the sprint itself. As the finishing order previously set the grid for the grand prix on Sunday, drivers were often opting against taking further risks as the sprint race developed and settling for their positions after the first few laps.

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To address that, the F1 Commission unanimously voted through revisions that mean Saturday will now be a completely standalone day involving a qualifying session — called sprint shootout” — and the sprint race, with the shootout being shorter than Friday’s normal qualifying. On Saturday, Q1 will be 12 minutes, Q2 just 10 minutes and then Q3 only eight minutes, adding jeopardy to the final part of the session and likely leading to just one run being possible at some venues.

Drivers will also have to use mandatory tires in the shootout, with Q1 and Q2 requiring new mediums, and Q3 new softs. That means a new tire allocation, with two sets of hards, four mediums and six softs per driver per race weekend.

The sprint finishing order no longer has an impact on the grand prix grid, with Friday’s qualifying setting the starting positions for the Sunday race. Points for both the sprint race and grand prix remain unchanged.

As far as penalties go, any grid penalty earned in FP1 or Friday qualifying will apply to the grand prix, while grid penalties earned in the sprint shootout will apply to the sprint. Any grid penalties picked up during the sprint itself will then be applied to the grand prix on Sunday, while parc ferme breaches mean a pit lane start in both the sprint and grand prix.

Power unit penalties only apply to the grand prix unless they are also a breach of parc ferme regulations.

The format will be used for the first time in this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as well as at the other five sprint venues this year in Austria, Belgium, Qatar, Austin and Brazil.

The number of power unit elements available to teams increased for this season only after Tuesday’s meetings, with the internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K all raised from a maximum of three per driver to a maximum of four.

New sprint rules must avoid spoiling the flow of race weekends – Vowles

Formula 1’s new sprint rules are still being finalized to make sure that changes don’t inadvertently destroy the rest of a race weekend, according to Williams team principal James Vowles (pictured middle, above). Formula 1 teams have agreed to drop …

Formula 1 teams have agreed to drop FP2 during a sprint weekend in favor of an extra qualifying session bespoke to the short Saturday race, essentially making that a standalone day with Friday qualifying setting the grid for the grand prix. Vowles says the collective approach between all team bosses shows a clear desire to try and improve the sport but that work is still required to make sure the final format is an overall step forward.

“On the new format, first and foremost there was a very good meeting where myself and other team principals sat down and discussed, ‘What would be good for the sport?’” Vowles told SiriusXM. “And it really was that level of discussion — a discussion that I don’t think could have been held that way five years ago, because it was all about individuals and what’s best for your team back then.

“We agreed that actually FP2 is probably not the right… It existed previously as a practice session; it was an hour, but we weren’t really doing anything. We were going around in circles because we enjoy doing that but we weren’t learning a tremendous amount, so the question was should we change that to a qualifying session? And there was very positive discussion around the table really that that’s probably a good direction of travel for the sport. But it has to be done in the right way.

“I think recent comments from Toto (Wolff, Mercedes team principal) and others around that sort of suggested we need to be careful that we don’t change too much that makes FP2 better but completely destroys the remainder of the race weekend. And it’s very easy to do — the rules are on a knife edge and there’s a limited amount of resource available to us.

“But I think globally the concept’s right. The sport will be more interesting if we had a second qualifying session there, we just need to carve the rules out. There’s meetings going on at the moment to do so to make sure that we have the right format. Then there will be a vote to make sure we’re all happy, we’ve got the right set of rules that move it forward. So the new format is in a proposal stage at the moment, moving hopefully to a complete stage later.”

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The current proposal includes the Saturday qualifying session following the same format but with shorter time windows for running, resulting in less track time overall. A final vote is set to take place on April 25, and Vowles says regardless of any changes the sprint in Baku is going to be particularly challenging for rookies such as Logan Sargeant.

A lot to take on in a short time for newcomers like Williams rookie Logan Sargeant. Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images

“A normal race weekend, normally we get Friday where we do two hours of practice, and then again on Saturday morning a third hour. It may seem a little bit excessive but take the case of Logan for example — three hours, and you’re not running for all three hours, you’re probably running for about half an hour, 35 minutes. There’s a limited amount of tires, fuel, setup time, so that’s maybe an hour and a half of time full stop before he gets into the race. That’s it.

“Baku’s a tricky circuit as well. Go to a sprint race weekend, what happens now is we get just one hour, that’s all we get to basically get the car set up.

“We’ll try and fit in a little bit of a qualifying program, a little bit of a race program to make sure the car’s OK. That’s it. Once that’s done, that setup is on the car for the remainder of that race weekend and we’ll go straight into a qualifying session in the evening of Friday.

“So from a driver perspective it’s a little bit like you’re being shocked and dumped in ice water — you’ve got to immediately get on with the pace. Especially for someone like Logan where experience matters and laps matter, it’s not a lot of time to get into the flow of the weekend.”

All teams agreed on Sprint changes to two-race F1 weekends

All Formula 1 teams have agreed an updated Sprint format that will see two races from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend onwards, with Saturdays becoming a standalone event with a separate qualifying session. To address concerns that the FP2 session …

To address concerns that the FP2 session on a Saturday morning was largely pointless during a Sprint weekend — taking place after Friday’s qualifying so cars were under parc ferme conditions — the format change has been discussed to replace FP2 with a competitive session.

Now, FP1 will be followed by Friday qualifying to set the grid for Sunday’s grand prix, with Saturday becoming solely about the Sprint. A morning qualifying session will follow a similar format to the usual Q1/Q2/Q3 schedule but with shorter timings so that only one lap is possible in Q3, and that will set the grid for the Sprint that same day that will carry the same points as previously.

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The intention is to encourage drivers and teams to be more aggressive in the Sprint race as there are no starting order repercussions for the grand prix, and Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says it was a rare occasion where all teams wanted the change.

“For once I think all the teams were aligned — it’s not very often that it’s the case so we have to jump on it!” Vasseur said when asked about the new format by RACER. “For sure the format is more dynamic and you can discuss about doing it so late but at the end of the day I think if we’re all aligned, then we have to push for it.

“I like the format. I’m not a big fan of the usual FP2 — sometimes it’s a bit boring. Not for us, because we have a lot of data but I can imagine for the spectators and even for you (media) if you don’t know about the level of fuel, the engine mode and so on it’s probably a bit boring — and to try to have something more dynamic during the weekend is a good decision.

“On the other end it’s true that if you watch football you’re not watching the session on Wednesday when they are training in the stadium. We are probably the only sport where we are putting the training session on TV…”

The changes have to be approved by the World Motor Sport Council and a Formula 1 Commission vote on April 25, three days before the race weekend in Baku gets underway.