Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ George Russell have both called for some changes to be made to the existing sprint race format after the Imola weekend.
The new format was tested at three races during the 2021 Formula 1 season with mixed feelings from the drivers and fans. As a result, a few modifications were introduced for the 2022 Formula 1 campaign, as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the first weekend to be held based on the print race format.
However, George Russell felt the changes were not enough, after he had a lot of difficulties in making progress at the Imola circuit. The Mercedes driver qualified P11 on Friday evening and was not able to gain any places in the Sprint race on Saturday. The British driver explained that the lack of tyre wear in a 21-lap race – even on the less durable soft tyres – led to few chaces to overtake and feels that the Sprint races should be longer.
“I’m not a big fan, I have to admit,” – George Russell said in an interview for Dutch language version of Motorsport.com when asked about his impressions of the new format – “Right now everyone is just going full throttle,” he explained. “The difference in lap time is not big enough to overtake, unless you haven’t qualified in your usual position. The race should be 50 percent longer so the tyres will wear out more,” he suggested. “The drivers may then have to manage their tyres a bit more, and then bigger differences between the cars will emerge.” – he added.
On the other hand, Carlos Sainz was able to recover six places in the sprint event for the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP. The Ferrari driver made a mistake in the qualifying session which meant he had to start the Sprint from P10 and recovered six positions to finish in fourth place on the grid for Sunday’s main event. But even so, Carlos Sainz agreed with George Russell’s view that improvements were needed to make the sprint race more exciting.
|It’s something that we are discussing with FOM and FIA, to maybe spice up a bit the Sprint weekend,” he told Motorsportweek.com. “I think there is good potential there.” – he added.
Carlos Sainz’ major concern was the extra time it took, with more pressure placed on the teams and drivers. Formula 1 has also changed the race weekend format which should make it easier for teams to cope with an expanded 23-race calendar. However, the Spaniard feels that the Sprint race weekends are actually working against that initiative.
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“Obviously on a standard weekend we are going towards more number of races,” he explained. “But for some reason that maybe we didn’t expect this year, both Thursday and Friday have become a lot longer for the drivers. The amount of media that we are facing every day, and the amount of time that we are spending at the track in meetings and activities has increased a lot,” he added. “Even as we are going towards a higher number of races. We’re going to need to find a way to control this in a more efficient way, let’s say.” – he continued.
In the 2022 Formula 1 season there will be two more sprint races, which are scheduled to take place at the Red Bull Ring in Austria and the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil. For next season, the plan is to increase the number to six Sprint weekends, but there still are disagreements between teams and the FIA over money and other matters: “The FIA is still evaluating the impact of this proposal on its trackside operations and personnel,” a statement from the governing body concluded.
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