Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has said that he would like to see more than six sprint races per season, after the revamped new format for sprint weekends was rolled out in Shanghai for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix.
The schedule for the weekend has been changed so that qualifying and the short race take place over consecutive sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, before attention turns to setting the Grand Prix grid.
The new format allowed teams to work on their cars after the end of the sprint and before Grand Prix qualifying, where before parc ferme conditions would have put the cars out of reach from Friday afternoon onwards.
Currently only a quarter of the 24 race weekends on the calendar include a sprint race, with Shanghai the first of the season and Miami next up, followed by Austria, United States, Brazil and Qatar.
But after rain helped mix up the sprint grid last week, Domenicali said the resulting entertaining event was proof that there should be more in future, rather than ordinary and often unexciting practice sessions.
“The qualifying sprint in those incredible conditions, we had a lot of running,” Domenicali said, adding that it was more entertaining for paying fans to have racing taking place rather than teams sheltering in pit lane as in Suzuka.
“We need to avoid any possibility to have a situation like Japan with cars not running,” he told Sky Sports F1 this week. “This is not good for the people that are coming to see us and see the drivers.
“We have the duty to make sure that every day there is some action on the track, and that we respect the fans that are coming here and want to have fun,” he said. “I would say this is great because it keeps the tension on every day.
Domenicali said that he intended to pick up the matter of adding more sprint races at the next F1 Commission meeting. “This is something that will be discussed in the future,” he confirmed.
But the move to more sprints is not popular with everyone, and the decision to add more not a foregone conclusion. “Let’s see how this year with the sprints will go,” he said. “I am sure that the teams will understand that we need to find solutions.”
The new sprint format did get a cautious thumbs up from Max Verstappen, who has been critical of sprint races in the past. “The sprint format was better, a bit more straightforward I would say,” he told the media in Shanghai.
But even Verstappen wasn’t keen on adding many more sprints on the calendar. “Let’s not overdo it,” the Red Bull driver said. “We’re already doing 24 races a year, six of these sprint events as well.
“I get it, it sells better and better numbers on TV, but it’s also more stress on the mechanics and everything,” he warned. “You have to deal with it but let’s not think we now need 12 of those because it will take its toll on people.”
Lando Norris clarified that it wasn’t so much the strain on the drivers as it was for the rest of the team personnel working all days and even nights during Grand Prix weekends.
“I don’t think it’s too bad for us as drivers, honestly. I don’t think we can be the ones to complain at all,” the McLaren driver admitted. “It’s the hundreds of mechanics and engineers that have to travel so much.
“It’s not healthy for them. It is not sustainable,” he added. “So the problem is not with [the drivers]. People should look out more for the rest of the team.”
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