Formula One have announced that there will be six sprint qualifying sessions in the 2023 season.
What is the sprint?
It is a concept that was introduced by F1 to some race weekends in 2021. Variously referred to as a Sprint Race by some (“Definitely not a race!”, said F1), as Sprint Qualifying by others (“Ummmmmmm…” said F1), and officially as F1 Sprint by F1 (“*sigh*” said everyone else).
The idea was to shake up the weekend and add more competitive action on the track by having a short race (“Not a race!”), the results of which would set the grid positions for the actual race on the Sunday, instead of using a traditional qualifying session. That qualifying session would, instead, set the grid for the sprint session.
How does it differ from a normal F1 event?
A “normal” weekend
A normal F1 weekend goes as follows (these are the actual tyres-on-tarmac parts of the weekend. There are other things going on such as press conferences and other media engagements, but these are the bits I’m interested in for this post)
On the Friday, there are two practice sessions. Free Practice 1 and 2 (otherwise known as FP1 and FP2). In previous years, these were 90 minutes each, but recently they have been cut down to 1 hour each. These sessions let the drivers and their teams set up the car as best as they can for the circuit, and also try out new components.
On the Saturday, first there is a third practice session (FP3) which is 1 hour long, and then a couple of hours later there is qualifying (also known as quali), which takes place over around an hour, split into three sessions, to decide where each driver will start on the grid. Crucially, once the qualifying session starts, the cars are in what is called parc ferme conditions, which means that they can no longer be worked on (apart from minor adjustments to things like wing angle, or for repairing damage).
Finally, on Sunday, it is the race.
A “sprint” weekend
The sprint format changes this as follows.
Friday starts with FP1 as normal. Then later in the day, instead of FP2 there is the three-stage qualifying session. This sets the grid for the sprint.
Saturday starts with FP2 (instead of FP3), and then – where quali would have been, we have the sprint. This sets the grid positions for the race.
On Sunday, it is the race, as normal.
What are my issues with it?
When I first heard about the idea, I was lukewarm about it. I’m not convinced that – as a concept – it really works. F1 cars and circuits aren’t designed for a short sprint, but for a long race (although the 2022 Sao Paulo sprint session turned out to be something of a classic!) However, the really big problem that I have with it is how the weekend sessions are organised.
First of all, there is only one truly meaningful practice session – the hour of FP1. By the time we reach FP2 on Saturday morning, the cars are already in parc-ferme (after the start of qualifying the day before), so there is little that can be done in this session. This means that the three hours of practice and set-up that the teams normally have is effectively reduced to just one hour.
Secondly, on a normal weekend all the competitive sessions (qualifying and the race) happen on Saturday and Sunday. The weekend. Moving qualifying to Friday for a sprint weekend means that the first competitive session of the event now takes place while many fans will still be at work. It’s not such a problem to be missing the live coverage of practice sessions while you’re working, but missing an important session such as qualifying? That is far from ideal.
How might it work better?
I would suggest a fairly simple change to this format. Keep the two practice sessions on the Friday. Perhaps even restore them on sprint weekends to the 90 minute sessions from ye olden days so that the teams still have 3 hours of practice as they do on the other non-sprint weekends, but if not they still get twice as many hours of meaningful practice. Then move the qualifying session to Saturday morning in place of the current practice session. Finally, the sprint on the Saturday afternoon and the race on Sunday run as normal. This would keep all the competitive sessions on the weekend, maximising the number of people who will be able to watch them on TV, and also allow the teams and drivers more meaningful practice time.
So those are my thoughts on the F1 sprint format. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.