The 2023 Formula 1 season has introduced six weekends with a different format, one that includes qualifying sessions on Fridays to set the starting grid for the Sunday race, while Saturdays are dedicated entirely to the Sprint format, comprising the Sprint Shootout and Sprint Race.
The last of these alternative format weekends will take place in São Paulo, Brazil, at the Interlagos circuit, one of the shorter tracks but also well-suited for the Sprint format, which has provided exciting weekends in past years.
Carlos Sainz, present at the pre-event press conference in Brazil, discussed the Sprint format, believing that Formula 1 should continue experimenting with different formats to develop the Saturday Sprint race, making it more distinct from the Sunday race.
According to the Ferrari driver from Madrid, the shorter race has elements that lead drivers to take fewer risks and, as a result, result in fewer overtakes than F1 desires.
“At the moment, I agree that 6 Sprint weekends are enough. But I also agree that Saturday is too revealing of what will happen on Sunday, which is basically the first stint of the Sunday race.” – Carlos Sainz pointed out.
“This doesn’t help. I think the main show should be the main race, the Grand Prix. So, if we’ve come to this point, it’s better to try something else on Saturday. Inverted grids? Qualifying with only one lap available? I don’t know. But I believe that, since the Sprint format is somewhat an ongoing experiment in Formula 1, I would be open to continue experimenting to see what the best format is. For me, what we have now is just that Saturday isn’t entirely suitable when we think about what we have on Sunday.” – the Ferrari driver explained, ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
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In support of Carlos Sainz’s words, but with more extreme ideas, Lando Norris even said he would prefer to skip the Saturday Sprint and compress the weekend to just 2 days on the track, with a single practice session preceding the qualifying.
This format was experimented with in F1 in 2020, a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily revolutionized the way the world operated. The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola took place in 2 days with a single 90-minute practice session.
“To be honest, I’ve always liked the normal race format. So, if I could choose, I would choose to go back and have all the normal race weekends,” began the McLaren driver. The reason is related to the fans and enhancing the show and things like that. I like the challenge of having just one practice session and then straight into qualifying. I think it’s better; it’s a nice challenge and is more stimulating for me. It is for the engineers too, not just for us drivers. So, if we could have Free Practice 1, Qualifying, and the main race between Saturday and Sunday, it would be very nice to be on the track for only 2 days. I think that might be the only possible solution, but I’m not the one making these choices. So it doesn’t matter much.”
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