Has F1 gone too far with its sprint race format tweaks?

In this lucrative Liberty Media-owned era for Formula 1, it’s easier to foresee every round featuring a sprint race sooner than the format being scrapped altogether. Money talks, so a 57% boost to the TV audience curiously tuning in to watch a new qualifying shootout for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix versus 2022 means the revised schedule is here to stay. As such it’s a more efficient use of energy to seek to optimise the latest restructure instead of futilely lamenting its very existence.

That begins with urging the FIA to close the silly loophole for the Saturday sprint qualifying that meant those who burned through their new tyre allocation come the end of Q2 could not then enter Q3. While the format alterations were only voted through at the 11th hour before heading to Baku, this was not a good look, leaving Pirelli hamstrung. Removing just one car from the top 10 battle diminishes the very spectacle these timetable tweaks sought to enhance. Likewise, legislators must immediately write a clause to prevent those drivers with no new dry rubber from then setting a time on wets, as Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda might theoretically have done to gain a grid spot over the other. While ultimately neither attempted this trick, the fact they could have is a clear oversight.

Next up, the parc fermé deadline needs to be relaxed. The definition of insanity dictates it was always unlikely that in consistently clement conditions the sprint and grand prix grids were never going to look dramatically different. While Williams isn’t about to propel itself into the fight for pole, to increase the likelihood of variation – and now there’s only one practice session during a sprint weekend – teams should be allowed to make setup tweaks on a Friday night to add some uncertainty to Saturday. Granted, it will slash the chances of the better-staffed leading teams slipping up as this quick-fire format originally intended. But F1 should remain an engineering competition. Easing parc fermé would help.

What Leclerc and Ferrari learned from the sprint race in Austria last year set up his victory charge in the grand prix 24 hours later

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The bigger issue was a lack of drama in either race in Azerbaijan. While not every sprint contest since 2021 has been a thriller, they have often set the scene for the full GP. Think Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen dicing at Silverstone to tee up the Copse shunt 24 hours later, or Charles Leclerc cooking his tyres one day in Austria to then tweak his strategy and mount no fewer than three passes for the lead on Verstappen the next. That was arguably the best duel of 2022. Baku, though, was dull throughout.

PLUS: How Baku’s sprint format change exposed F1’s biggest fault

Taking 100 metres out of the DRS zone on the main straight contributed to the lack of lunges into Turn 1. But the Red Bulls still managed to dive past rivals. The sheer dominance of the RB19 and absence of overtaking from the rest of the field suggests another rules rethink might soon be required.

Even if it means sacrificing a couple of different takes on how to design a sidepod, it increasingly looks as though the technical rules need to be even more prescriptive

Now the hype over the switch to ground effects has cooled, it’s clear the shakeup has underwhelmed. The competitive leap made by Aston Martin aside, there haven’t been shock winners. Drivers also reckon following another car is noticeably harder again this season. And at the time of writing, after four rounds, there’s yet to be a true thriller in 2023. Even if it means sacrificing a couple of different takes on how to design a sidepod, it increasingly looks as though the technical rules need to be even more prescriptive. This, over working out where an extra qualifying fits into the timetable, will do much more to boost Formula 1’s entertainment and audience.

Has F1's focus on sprint races distracted from the real issues that need addressing?

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images