The introduction of the Sprint Qualifying has create a debate regarding the official assignment of the pole position. At Silverstone pole was awarded to Max Verstappen, winner of the 17-lap Sprint Race, while the fastest driver on Friday, Lewis Hamilton, was named “King of speed”. In the opinion of many, however, pole position should go to the driver which is fastest on a flying lap and not to the first to take the checkered flag in the sprint race on Saturday.
Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, for example, is one of those who argues that pole shouled be awarded for the fastest lap and not to the winner of a sprint race. The Spaniard was forced to recover from the last positions in the sprint qualifyng after an accident with George Russell in turn 6 at the Silverstone circuit. Despite this, the Ferrari driver appreciated the new format, but feels that pole position should be given for fastest single laps:
“I was probably a victim of sprint qualifying, but what happened to me in the sprint race could have happened to me Grand Prix because of the position I was in. In the end, the sprint qualifying gave me the opportunity to turn a 19th into a tenth and start tenth, so I’m not very angry with this new format” – Carlos Sainz explained, as reported by Spanish digital portal Soymotor – “Pole Position should go to the fastest driver in qualifying, it should remain a prize and a statistic for the future and it should be for the fastest driver, not the driver who wins the race,” he added.
Scuderia Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, on the other hand, remains more cautious in judging the new format. The Italian engineer is convinced that the new type of qualifying needs time to be judged, as we still have to evaluate the television ratings, the real test to understand whether the English experiment worked or not: “After the first trial, it is still early to decide. Then we have to think about what we can do to make Saturday morning more relevant, but in general I think the audience’s responses will be important” – Mattia Binotto explained – “The mini race or sprint qualifyng is something strange for me, we still have to digest it” – the Scuderia Ferrari team principal concluded.
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