The biggest headache F1 faces over its sprint race experiments

Formula 1 sprint races are go. Following the unanimous vote at the F1 Commission earlier this week, this year’s British Grand Prix will witness one of the biggest shake ups in the weekend format we’ve seen for decades. No longer will the driver starting on pole position on Sunday be the one who delivered the fastest lap of the weekend so far. Now, a short 100km race will give us the final grid for the main event.

The change that will be trialled at three events this year (starting at Silverstone) has left some rubbing their hands in glee, but for others it is viewed with great scepticism.

There are fears that Saturday’s sprint will detract from the delight and jeopardy of Sunday, and take away some of the shine of the main event. Plenty of fans are happy with the current Saturday qualifying format as it is. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it.

There isn’t really a need to spice up Saturdays, and many will be disappointed that the single lap qualifying sessions will now be taking place when they are at work, or school, on a Friday afternoon. There are also fears that the shorter Saturday race will simply offer a copycat picture that we will get the day after, and give drivers who messed up in qualifying an additional opportunity to mitigate their error and haul themselves back to the front for Sunday.

But F1 has been clear from the off that the sprint race move isn’t about trying to make Saturday afternoon more exciting, nor about mixing the grid up for Sunday. Instead, it’s about making the whole weekend better.

As Fridays are a bit of a damp squib at the moment, with the lengthy practice sessions being a lot more exciting for the teams and engineers than they are for fans, the sprint race push is about delivering a point of excitement on each day. There will be a better narrative to the whole weekend, a talking point each day, and much less preparation time for drivers and teams before they are forced to get properly down to action with the first qualifying session.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR21

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The hardcore viewer will still tune in devotedly to Friday’s qualifying sessions (or its highlights), while a short race on Saturday will be a not-miss event for many. How many times over the years have we heard complaints from people that they tune in just for the start of the race and that’s it? Well, now they will get to do that twice on a GP weekend.

There is evidence that points to having a shorter race on Saturday actually working too, with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff saying DTM delivered great gains when it happened there.

“The sprint races are an interesting format in my opinion, and an experiment which I believe we need to do," Wolff said earlier this year when the idea was first mooted. “I’ve seen in other racing series, like DTM, that the audience almost doubled with having a Saturday and Sunday race, and that obviously can be monetised.”

The difficulty will come if the sprint qualifying format brings a mixed bag of consequences to the race weekends. What if the viewership goes up (which is good for race promoters and TV companies), but the spectacle over the whole weekend isn’t as good – and we get a dud race on Sunday?

But the varied opinions about the benefits and consequences of the sprint race means that any decisions about whether or not the experiments become a permanent feature in years to come will be incredibly complex. For how can it be judged if the sprint races are a success?

Ultimately, a failed sprint race experiment will be easiest to conclude. If the events fail to deliver an uplift in viewership or race weekend attendance; if the Saturday sprint qualifying is a damp squib, and if it impacts Sunday by making the main grand prix too predictable, then it will be pretty easy to jump to the conclusion that the idea should be consigned to the rubbish bin.

But the difficulty will come if, as is most likely, the sprint qualifying format brings a mixed bag of consequences to the race weekends. What if the viewership goes up (which is good for race promoters and TV companies), but the spectacle over the whole weekend isn’t as good – and we get a dud race on Sunday?

Or what if the sprint race turns out to be the highlight of the weekend, and viewers come to the conclusion that they only really need to tune in to that now for their weekend hit of action?

Simon Lazenby, Sky TV, on the grid prior to the start

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

There could be a scenario too where qualifying and the sprint races are boring, but the strategic implications of how they impact the flow of the weekend means we get a much better and more unpredictable race on Sunday. After all, will drivers really risk that much in Saturday’s sprint race knowing that an off or a collision with a rival would be a disaster for Sunday? Could Saturday turn out to be a procession after one lap?

Some are convinced that will be the case, but a look back at the Macau Grand Prix’s history books – which for years now has effectively run a ‘sprint qualifying’ on its Saturdays – shows that while drivers are not as aggressive as they are in the main event, there is often still plenty of action to get excited about.

Then we must also consider that the verdict on sprint races will likely be determined by how that specific race weekend plays out. A sprint race mistake from Lewis Hamilton that drops him to the back of the field, before a stunning charge back on Sunday, would be viewed as brilliant.

But a mistake from the seven-time world champion in qualifying that dumps him into the midfield, and then a recovery on Saturday that puts him back on the front row for a Sunday march to victory, could be viewed as something not so great. Either of those scenarios playing out would be down to pure coincidence, yet they would cloud many of the other issues about sprint races.

Other questions abound too. What leeway will be given for the novelty factor of the experiment? Nobody will want to miss the first sprint races, but would that inform us of their longer term potential to keep engagement high?

How F1 comes to judge the success or not of sprint races will be fascinating to see. Perhaps the key to it is simply that everyone in F1 is prepared to give it a chance. If it works overall, then give it a chance to carry on. If it doesn’t, then don’t waste time defending it and just move on.

As F1’s managing director of motorsports Ross Brawn said: “The drivers are open minded about the format - and that’s all we ask, that the drivers keep an open mind so we can evaluate this event and then we decide if in the future it forms a feature of the F1 season.

“If it doesn’t work, we put hands up and we will think again.”

Steve Neilsen, FOM, and Ross Brawn, Managing Director of Motorsports, FOM

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images