Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz admitted they were not completely satisfied after the second sprint qualifying trial, which took place last weekend the Italian Grand Prix, explaining some changes need to be made.
Formula 1 first held a trial of sprint qualifying experimental format at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix
And despite the fact that Friday evening’s qualifying session was a success, adding excitement to a day usually reserved for two hours of practice running, the sprint qualifying on Saturday was less interesting for the fans.
There was not much passing during the 18-lap event, except on the opening lap and the lap after the Safety Car that had been brought out for Pierre Gasly’s crash.
“I quite like this format for the Friday,” Charles Leclerc said, as reported by Autosport. “I think for the Friday it’s definitely something positive. I am a bit bored on the normal Friday because FP1, FP2, nothing to win, nothing to lose. You do a bit more laps, it’s always good, but you’ve so much other chances to recover what you have lost in FP1 for example. Now FP1 is a natural session that really is worth pushing and finding the limits in. And I think it’s also good for us drivers to just go on a track and push straight away. It’s more interesting also for the show. So I quite like the Friday format like this personally.”
But while the Monegasque driver liked the new-look Friday, Saturday’s sprint qualifying needs to be rethinked
“I didn’t enjoy it as much in Monza. And I feel there’s maybe room to just try something different for the sprint qualifying. There’s been already quite a lot of ideas. And I think we are more or less all on the same line to just try and do something different for the sprint qualifying.” – Charles Leclerc explained.
Spanish driver Carlos Sainz agreed with his Monegasque teammate: “I agree with Charles, that we need to find a way to make Saturday a bit more exciting because at the moment, I don’t think it’s giving much excitement compared to Saturday qualifying. I don’t see sprint qualifying being more exciting than a Saturday qualifying. So we need to find a way to make Saturday a bit more exciting.” – Carlos explained.
As for Team Principal Mattia Binotto, the Ferrari boss feels that a reverse grid format could be exactly what Formula One needs to bring more excitement for sprint qualifying.
“I think the new format is still a positive experiment, if you look at it in the view of the entire weekend. Obviously not looking at the single day, but as overall in terms of weekend, having already some action on Friday I think is positive. So overall, I think we should judge it positively. Now, how can we improve it? Obviously, there are some ideas like the reverse grid. If not that one, I am pretty sure there will be other discussions or ideas to come up through the F1 commission with F1, FIA and all the other team principals. So I’m fully open-minded. I think what we need is to honestly consider that as an overall positive experiment so far, it still needs [time] or can be improved. And let’s see what can be the better ideas compared to the one I suggested.” – Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto stressed.
Leave a Reply