F1 team bosses share details of possible sprint format changes
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Following a boring sprint event the last time the format was run at the United States Grand Prix, drivers and team bosses both suggested changes were needed to spice up the show. Several ideas are believed to be under consideration, including turning the Saturdays into a standalone sprint championship, offering a major cash prize as an additional incentive for the sprint winners, and the potential introduction of a reverse grid format.According to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, a proposal to move the sprint shootout to Friday – with the sprint race on Saturday morning and qualifying for Sunday’s main grand prix pushed back to later in the afternoon – was raised during talks with F1 president Stefano Domenicali. “Yeah that’s correct, we’ve been talking to Stefano,” Wolff told Sky at this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which is hosting the sixth and final sprint race of the 2023 season.”It’s his decision but then you can correlate it easier. You do the sprint shootout and then the second qualifying for the race [Sunday’s grand prix] which would be Saturday, 2pm is the time we know. “It would create maybe less confusion. Maybe it should be called sprint quali and grand prix quali – that would be easier. Wolff added: “I think we all have the same objectives between F1 and the teams. I have said it often but I am not keen on these weekends overall but if they make sense from an audience point of view then we need to do it.”Related Why Verstappen was ‘shouting on the radio’ in Brazil F1 qualifying Could Mercedes F1 boss Wolff join Ratcliffe’s Man Utd bid?
Aston Martin performance director Tom McCullough admitted that even some of F1’s most ardent fans, including his father, find the format confusing. “The sprint event was brought in for a reason, for the fans,” he said. “From a technical point of view, it’s a headache. The car goes into parc ferme after one practice session and it is difficult. But from a commercial side and from a fans side, I think there are elements that are exciting.“It’s been tweaked already and I think it needs tweaking a bit more, because even my dad, whose quite an understander and follower of F1, sometimes says to me ‘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 but still have the excitement of two races I think.”Ferrari sporting director Diego loverno stressed there is no “definitive proposal” on the table but said the teams will work together to improve the format. “For sure the spirit weekend has a lot of merits because with more competitive sessions you get generate more interest,” he said. “It’s possible to improve. There is still not a definitive proposal but our target would be, once the FIA and F1 has sort of decided the format, the teams will have to work together to make it good for the spectators, good for us, because it is quite tricky. “If you move the sprint race to Saturday morning then you have to make sure that you allow enough gap to enable teams to react for quali in case of problems and stuff like that. There are also other options on the table. “We will work altogether because in the end, our target is to make it as good as possible for our fans.”
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