The winners and losers from F1's new sprint format

Can a two-year old concept really be revolutionised? Surely not, but a philosophical starting point is appropriate given Formula 1’s biggest concept change is years is once again returning to the championship’s focus, as sprint racing returns for the first time in 2023 at this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Having settled on the practice/knockout-qualifying/race format for 15 years, bar the small experiment with the unloved elimination qualifying in early 2016, sprint races arrived with the intention of ‘shaking up’ F1 weekends. One can imagine those who use the contemptable phrase ‘industry disruptors’ being delighted by such a vow, but nevertheless evolution and rule-changing has long been a part of F1’s DNA. This extends to weekend formats too.

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Sprint races were brought in along with a view of making weekends shorter overall – a move since ditched, at least temporarily, as it was discovered the three-day event format was saving little, if any, time for most F1 staff. And when the drivers twigged they were having to work longer Fridays in addition to the traditional media Thursday still involving the same travel and time requirements, the change was abandoned ahead of the 2022 British GP. Which doesn’t mean it won’t be tried again one day.

Sprint races, however, are here to stay. And F1 and its stakeholders have been constantly tweaking the format ever since Silverstone 2021. For 2022, mercifully, they moved to award the pole position statistic to the driver topping Friday qualifying and points paying down to eighth from just the top three in 2021. And later that year, it was revealed F1 would be expanding its sprint repertoire to six events for 2023, double what had been held in 2021 and 2022.

But the biggest change, while not a revolution and more of a natural refinement, is now coming in Baku. This is that Sunday’s grid for all sprints will now be set by Friday Q1-Q2-Q3 qualifying following a single practice session. Saturdays will comprise of a dedicated sprint qualifying and race agenda.

What’s particularly odd is that these changes was only informally discussed and then agreed between the teams, F1 and the FIA last time out in Australia, and then the governing body rubber-stamped the rule changes at yesterday’s F1 Commission meeting in Geneva.

That late decision-making means sprint qualifying, which is now officially, bizarrely, called the sprint shootout, is only different to th grand prix-grid-setting session on Friday by its segments being shorter in the hope of drivers having just a single shot to secure their sprint Q3 results at some tracks. Had Pirelli’s tyre allocation not already been shipped to Baku, its likely one-shot qualifying would’ve returned to F1 for the first time since 2005.

The lateness of the sprint format tweak spared F1 from a return to one-shot qualifying - something only Fernando Alonso has experience of on the current grid

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

There are many things to consider with the latest changes to the sprint format, which overall seems unlikely to change the entrenched positions of most F1 observers on whether it’s a good idea, period, or not. But we can logically expect further changes to follow – particularly with MotoGP’s move to add a sprint race for every round in mind.

A further increase in sprint sprinkling over F1’s calendar should be expected once the format has been finally sealed, as the increase to six was only delayed to 2023 as the teams had enough going on adapting to running the new ground-effect cars in 2022. Perhaps more sprints would even drive change for ‘normal’ weekends given F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali’s recent utterance that he is “a supporter of the cancellation of free practice sessions”.

But, right now, what really matters is that the biggest change for the Baku sprint is that removes the FP2 session that previously preceded the sprint race. This was much derided because it was ultimately meaningless for fans given the first grid had already been set. It was even problematic for the teams, who could still use the session to gather tyre wear data, as they were unable to alter car set-up given the parc ferme rules had also kicked in when Friday qualifying commenced.

"We’ve tried to find the balance and that’s what we’ll always do. We’ll never compromise on the event. But when we decide the event obviously we want to maximise our commercial benefits from that, but it is this principal that Formula 1 is the foundation of everything we do" Ross Brawn

There are two distinct sets of winners and losers from this change.

The first is more of a theoretical consideration, but it’s the overarching, most important one of all because it simply drives the rest: F1’s coffers. The whole sprint idea is to fettle and improve F1’s racing product at a time when the championship is enjoying its Netflix-driven boom. And just by themselves the sprints are understood to come with a financial boost for F1 from the circuits that want them, judging by comments made by ex-sporting boss Ross Brawn.

“For me, a sprint race can only add because it’s a competition – best guy wins, smartest guy wins – it’s a meritocracy,” Brawn told Autosport in Abu Dhabi last year on the eve of his retirement. “It’s just an additional demonstration of the drivers’ talents during a race weekend. I think the sprint is great. I can’t see why anyone would really have a problem with that.

“[The sprint location choices for 2023] may not necessarily be the most commercially lucrative of the options we had, but they’re the ones where we thought the sprint would work well.

Whether fans like it or not, former F1 boss Ross Brawn feels sprint races - like last year's one in Brazil, headed briefly by poleman Kevin Magnussen for Haas - "can only add" to the show

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“We’ve tried to find the balance and that’s what we’ll always do. We’ll never compromise on the event. But when we decide the event obviously we want to maximise our commercial benefits from that, but it is this principal that Formula 1 is the foundation of everything we do. That’s the core and then we can build everything on top of that. If the core is weak, the foundation is weak, and we’re not going to go anywhere.”

This is all why Spa is sitting alongside Qatar on the 2023 sprints list – a race that is clinging on to its place on the F1 calendar. And that’s a good thing for the second winner of FP2’s dumping: TV viewers.

F1 has long been a TV product. A much better view of the whole event is provided by watching at home, sitting alongside F1’s nomadic nature in making such consumption the norm for all but a lucky few who can travel from race to race. But it was here that the toothless FP2 sprint session was the main problem.

The session lacked the natural excitement building of the long-form weekend FP3 action. This might’ve been relatively small for most people, but it was also important in building driver confidence on empty tanks ahead of qualifying. And, despite the best efforts of broadcasters to transfer a ‘Test Match Special’ charm to slow-going practice proceedings, those viewers watching along (low in numbers compared to qualifying and race sessions) tended to make their feelings clear.

This chimed with the drivers sharing a passion for hating doing pointless things and now things are set to be very different with the new changes. Most F1 racers – although most visibly and vocally Max Verstappen is not among this group, as his overall sprint antipathy continues – are happy with what is going to be different for Baku.

A qualifying session simply provides more thrills for those inside the cockpits, as well as those looking in from the outside. F1 insiders claim it has the data to prove the sprint concept is success in increasing its overall audience – mainly because Friday qualifying means a competitive session occurs on all three main days of a race weekend.

Now, the merely conveniently-monikered ‘losers’ of our consideration are altogether more complex groups.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes a sprint race in Baku will only cause problems for teams under the new cost cap rules

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

The first concerns the teams, which seems very odd given they voted for exactly these changes. But that doesn’t stop them criticising exactly such situations, with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner already saying holding a sprint on Baku’s fast, walled streets is “absolutely ludicrous”.

F1’s curfew requirements mean that, potentially, a badly damaged car post-sprint might not be fixable in the two hours allowed post-sprint and five hours on Sunday morning teams have to make such repairs around their cars being required to be covered and sealed for security reasons per F1’s rules. This means sprint crashes are at risk of being doubly penalised by a GP DNS.

Horner and others are additionally concerned that such crashes mean “from a cost cap perspective, all you can do is trash your car”. Remember here that Haas had to cope with an estimated $1m damage bill after Mick Schumacher’s shunt in Jeddah qualifying last year, with the risk of another crash on that fast, walled, track ultimately forcing his withdrawal from that event, which was not even a sprint.

There is also a worry that any team suffering a crash will be pushed hard on spare parts given its so early in the season, particularly as Baku is followed by Miami. This isn’t a street track as such and more a Formula E-style venue, but that is better than those created for the electric championship, but it still has walls in close proximity everywhere.

Like everything with F1’s sprints, the results of the latest changes produce a mixed bag. If the additional races do add considerable long-term financial value, then teams should feel a cash benefit that might mitigate the cost cap squeeze from additional crash damage

While these can bite hard, the teams have been using the spring break created by the latest cancellation of the Shanghai race to stockpile parts just in case. But by removing FP2 in favour of another qualifying session, the risk of a crash even in the against-the-clock sessions increases given drivers may not yet be sufficiently dialled in to rise to the new challenge.

An F1 driver should be able too, of course, but this all shows the remaining risk/reward balance concerning sprints. That while the rule makers have been moved in the main hope sprint races will be further enlivened now drivers no longer have to risk their GP grid position in a last-gasp passing attempt, that won’t stop final messages to drivers about preserving their machines for the race that really matters being uttered ahead of the Saturday action.

But while those concerns are hypothetical for now, there is second group – consisting of F1 fans – that is definitely set to be negatively impacted by the FP2 sprint absence. These are the spectators watching trackside in Baku and at other sprint locations in 2023 and beyond. Because, although the session total remains the same for sprint and long-form weekends, replacing FP2 with another qualifying brings the lap count a spectator will see down significantly.

Fans will lose out with the alteration of the sprint format as the amount of laps they'll get to see will lessen

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

FP2 for the last sprint event of 2022, in Brazil, logged 651 laps as Esteban Ocon set the pace. Qualifying last time out in Australia, additionally action-packed as it was with the prep-lap requirements on the cool surface and rain threat, came in at 419.

At a tyre-chewing venue, such as 2023 season-opener in Bahrain, that comes down to 251 tours in the Q1-Q2-Q3 session. And sprint ‘shootout’ qualifying will be shorter even than that, reducing the number of runs a driver can complete in each segment.

Sure, any F1 practice session gets repetitive even for those watching at the circuit, but for those that used such proceedings to get varied views of the cars in action (not possible at all venues it must be said), this is a big cutback.

Like everything with F1’s sprints, the results of the latest changes produce a mixed bag. If the additional races do add considerable long-term financial value, then teams should feel a cash benefit that might mitigate the cost cap squeeze from additional crash damage.

And if a sprint leads to a better GP race – which it both has and hasn't done at the most memorable ones so far (Silverstone 2021 and the Lewis Hamilton/Max Verstappen Copse crash, Daniel Ricciardo’s Monza 2021 glory, and George Russell humbling Verstappen and Red Bull in Brazil last year) – then those spectators missing FP2 might yet be satisfied by having the other on-track time they previously paid to enjoy slashed.

But concerning Baku, no matter how its cut, nothing but a Red Bull 1-2 in qualifying, ‘shootout’, the sprint and GP should be predicted based on what has been witnessed so far in 2023. And that’s a much bigger problem to solve for those concerned with a gripping F1 racing product.

Will anything really change under the new sprint format for Baku?

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool