The new format
During the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, there was a revolution in the format of Formula 1, exclusively for events that include Sprint races. Unlike last year, the new program cancels the second free practice session and replaces it with the traditional qualifying that determines the starting grid for Sunday’s race.
At the same time, the third practice session was also replaced with a qualifying shootout, dedicated exclusively to establishing the Sprint race grid.
Positive reactions
The project, officially announced just before the Baku weekend, was initially met with skepticism, but the feedback from most fans seems to have been positive, at least according to the words of Formula 1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali:
“Of course, we did it in agreement with the teams and the FIA – explained the former Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari in an interview with Wall Street analysts – as you know, our idea is to make sure that there is always action on track during the race weekend. In fact, the result of the first one this year was very encouraging, and all of our partners, promoters, media partners, and even the teams are very satisfied. Obviously, there is something we still need to perfect, to understand if we can do even better at the end of the summer, but in general, the first weekend of the Sprint format was fantastic.”
“As always – he added – when you want to do something different in a highly standardized ecosystem, the reaction of traditional fans is the one you have to wait for the long term. With new fans, we have seen a very positive reaction, and promoters have pushed for this.”
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The number of Sprint weekends
Stefano Domenicali then reiterated the issue regarding the number of Sprint races on the calendar, which in the future will not be present in every weekend, unlike what is happening this year in MotoGP: “We do not want all races to take place with the Sprint format in the future – he specified – we want to maintain a limited number, perhaps a third of the calendar, and create something special for the competition that can provide sporting value with trophies and, of course, commercial opportunities for these things. I believe that this is the right path to follow.” – he explained.
Keeping up with the times
Finally, the President and CEO of Formula 1 still wants to follow the examples of other sports that have opted for rule changes to keep up with the times: “I see a great trend today in all sports not to be stable, so to speak, not to remain consistent with the old regulations – he stated – we are following what baseball and the NBA have done. This means that all professional sports must listen to the requests and new inputs that fans, promoters, and partners ask for to have more enthusiasm around the game.” – the former Ferrari boss and current Formula 1 chief executive officer concluded.
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