Did F1's new sprint format work?
The Chinese Grand Prix saw Formula 1 run its revamped sprint format for the first time, but was it simply more of the same or did the changes - which moved the sprint away from being a standalone event on the Saturday - improve the show?
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited:
A disclaimer: I am not a huge fan of Formula 1's sprint weekends. In the form used in 2022 and 2023, they were akin to watching a trailer for the full grand prix, where the race effectively acts as a representation of the opening stint of Sunday's full-length affair. It was a point that Carlos Sainz made last year, when asked if F1 should be more liberal with its experiments for the Saturday races.
"Saturday is too revealing of what's going to happen on Sunday, which is basically the first stint of the race of Sunday," he explained in Brazil last year. "And this doesn't help. I think the show is the main race, is the grand prix. So if you've arrived to that point, you'd better try something else on Saturday."
Since teams were locked in to the same set-up when grand prix qualifying - then held on Friday after free practice - began, the performance levels were the same. Variance was added through differing grid positions but, under similar conditions, the finishing positions in both sprint and full race largely converged. It was almost a scientific exploration of entropy, changing one variable and letting the experiment play out.
With qualifying returned to its usual position on a Saturday afternoon, the new format for 2024 ensured parc ferme could be opened after the sprint race. This offered just under three hours of tinkering time, allowing for set-up tweaks of differing magnitudes depending on the data gathered by each driver. That at least imbued the grand prix with further variables.
The worry was that, compared to the old format, the teams would be able to iterate their set-up paths; under the old system, a single practice session meant that there were many questions left unanswered, meaning that the more traditional front-runners could theoretically slip up and hand an advantage to the lower-ranked teams, who could perhaps spring a surprise.
Instead, the previous approach to parc ferme instead rewarded the teams who have the resources to get it right first time; smaller teams could, theoretically, stumble upon the perfect set-up and make the most of it - but that's less likely compared to those who have more accurate simulation tools at home.
Having a qualifying and a race programme already in the books meant that the other teams had another bite at the cherry. McLaren, for example, enjoyed a much smoother run on Sunday and it gave the Woking team the opportunity to split the Red Bulls in the race - which it duly did so.
Norris took a surprise second-place finish in Shanghai, beating Red Bull's Sergio Perez
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
But it also punished those who perhaps got a bit greedy; Mercedes put the "experiments for the future" spin on its lesser results in the grand prix compared to Lewis Hamilton's sprint-race runner-up finish, but its decision to make wide-ranging setup changes arguably cost it a shot at more points. Ferrari looked beatable as both cars looked languid on the hard tyre, but Russell finished behind them nonetheless.
"We both made big changes from the sprint race. And that is: if we optimise everything this weekend, maybe we would have finished P3, P4, P5, in qualifying. But we still wouldn't be content with that," George Russell explained. "And we want to fight for victories and championships hopefully the minimum next year, and sometimes you need to sacrifice in the short term to make some greater gains down the line."
Maybe that makes some sense, depending on your view, but it's nonetheless an odd decision to move away from a configuration that might offer a faint shot at a podium. Hamilton proved that, even though he was nowhere near Max Verstappen in the sprint, the Mercedes could get something out of that sprint race; but it seemed that the team was already looking towards the next thing rather than make the most of what it already had.
There's a nuanced paradox to the opening of parc ferme, it seems, and giving the teams more freedom to make changes will naturally result in most taking that opportunity
And that set-up 'greediness' probably cost Sergio Perez a second place too. Speaking in the post-race press conference, Perez noted that battling with Charles Leclerc had cost him the chance to get on terms with Lando Norris after taking too much life out of his tyres, but also reckoned that set-up tinkering had gone in the wrong direction.
"I also felt like we went in the opposite way with the changes we made from the sprint event into the race. I felt like we probably took a little bit of backwards step," he mused.
At the other end, there were drivers clamouring for changes as early as the end of sprint qualifying: Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg both felt that their cars needed spannerwork, and it seemed to reward them as both enjoyed good finishes in the midfield.
There's a nuanced paradox to the opening of parc ferme, it seems, and giving the teams more freedom to make changes will naturally result in most taking that opportunity. However, it doesn't always work out, and the trackside engineers may now have to consider whether to stick or to twist if the sprint race has gone well. A minor change in tracking, flap angle, or camber might have deleterious consequences, and it's not like there's time to play it by ear as qualifying looms.
Next up is Miami, which will host another sprint event
Photo by: Alfa Romeo
Miami's sprint event will offer more insight here and, if the sprint race and grand prix remain sufficiently different enough, the parc ferme tweaks might suggest that the sprint revisions are working. Given that the race around the Hard Rock Stadium has been on the calendar for the past two years, contemporary data about the track will remain relevant and thus removes one variable that China's return introduced.
The "resurfacing" of the Shanghai circuit offered another obstacle as the bitumen-daubed asphalt was a genuine surprise to the 10 teams on the grid. Miami, on the other hand, plays to the carry-over from last year and thus most will have some idea of how to approach the weekend with their set-up decisions.
But since this is a weekly soapbox, one will duly oblige with some closing remarks about sprint formats. If variability from reduced practice is what is required, then approaching the weekend with a sole session on Saturday morning before qualifying is surely the way to go. This was trialled at Imola in 2020, with a 90-minute session of free practice preceding the grid-setting festivities later on Saturday.
Perhaps holding a 30-minute shakedown on Friday afternoon once all of the media sessions are over will work as a compromise for those hoping for three days of track action, but halving the overall practice time should be enough to introduce line-fluffing into the rest of the weekend.
And that's what we want, isn't it? F1's a lot less one-dimensional when mistakes are punished, or when teams can't just data-gather themselves out of trouble. Or maybe, the race format is fine and it's at the roots where F1 needs an overhaul to reduce the sense of inevitability that you know who will win on Sunday long before a wheel is even turned in FP1. But that's a conversation for another day - and it's also a problem that tinkering with sprint races won't fix either. Not unless you introduce reversed grids...
The jury is out on the new sprint format, but what did you think?
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
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