Formula 1 for the past ten years have been trying to increase its viewers for this they have heavily increase all kind of advertisement, documentaries, F1 related shows like Drive to Survive on Netflix, added new tracks and all that was fine until they try to mess with the Race Format.

This post is my opinion about Sprint Race, similar to what others drivers have mention in the past and I think Formula 1 and the FIA will put more attention to it now that Max Verstappen has said it so openly after the Formula 1 US Grand Prix at Texas, last weekend.

Sprint Races at first sound interesting but to fit another Quali for the weekend you have to take out two of the Free Practice session that drivers and teams use to setup the car properly for Sunday, now lets say that is not the worst out of this changes, usually teams can get over this two practice sessions unless they bring a lot of upgrades, in the case of the US Grand Prix at Texas, Aston Martin just did that and they did mention that one practice session this time was not enough time for them to setup the car properly.

There are many ways the average viewer could think about practice.

• More race time meaning a second race besides Sunday Race
• Cars will go faster?
• Practice sessions are boring

This are just some of the common reasons why an average viewer would think Sprint Races are good but most of them are not true.

• Sprint Race make Sunday Race very predictable
• Cars wont go faster, usually is a third or half the amount of laps
• Practice session are boring but useful, necessary

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After the Formula 1 US Grand Prix at Texas, in an interview the Three Times Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen was very vocal about Sprint Races, Verstappen has not only criticize Sprint Races but also other measures that Formula 1 has implement to keep viewers entertain like the amount of races per year, for 2023 there are twenty three races, Verstappen has mention that if amount of races keep incrementing drastically then he might think of retiring sooner than he thought since flying around the world, been away from family and racing Formula 1 cars all year long is very exhausting. Normal viewers just think about racing, its just a fast car but Formula 1 cars as some other high performance cars are as close you can get to fly a jet fighter aircraft but on land, drivers get to 372 kmph thats 231 mph (Vallteri Bottas on SPA), some times they loose up to ten pounds in a race with extreme conditions like this year Qatar Race where drivers could not finish, burn their back, pass out after the race, all this adds up and so does Sprint Races.

Max Verstappen mention he is NOT A FAN of Sprint Races because it takes out the mistery of walking up on Sunday and figure out who is the fastest driver during the race.

The most critical point of Sprint Races is that it diminish the Sunday Race, it takes from the show, it takes from figuring out who is going to be the most consistent driver on Sunday.

Traditional Race Week Format

• Friday
  • FP1 & FP2
• Saturday
  • FP3 & Quali
• Sunday
  • Grand Prix Race

Average viewers might think they are still racing during FP1, FP2 and FP3 but that is not the case at all, they some times going a bit over three thirds pace of what the car can perform that's why you can never take practice times granted for Quali or Race, also consider that there are Drivers and Cars that can be very good at Quali but not consistent at Sunday Race.

Besides Sprint Race, Formula 1 has try to mix in the tires to use during this sessions but that haven't had any big impact over the outcome or even amount of viewers, the main excuse for Sprint Race is that now days Crystal Generation has a very low amount of time attention but Formula 1 was already big before this new generation.

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The most recent race at Texas is the perfect scenario where it shows how much Sprint Races take away from Grand Prix Sunday Race.

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Max Verstappen makes Pole on Quali for the Sprint race but the rest of the pack was very close so if we take Sprint Race as a simulation of Sunday Race, in this case it was because Friday Quali for Sunday Race was the same case they were all close to each other; then Sprint Race would the same for Sunday Race right?

Well the outcome was very similar only variant is that for Sunday, Verstappen was starting number six on the grid so if he won the Sprint Race of nineteen laps by +9 seconds, Sunday Race is fifty six laps more than double the amount of laps what makes you think he wont win too?

The are some variants like pit stops, weather, safety cars, accidents that can add or take form this outcome but it turns very very predictable, to make things worst for the case of Sprint Race, the race had no accidents but Verstappen did have problems with his break system that make him slow down a lot to the point he only won the race by two seconds.

Solutions:

There are a few ideas floating around, rumors, driver comments and the most common are

• Back to traditional weekend race format
• Sprint Race Championship with cash prizes
• Inverted Grid Start

From this three options the only one that appeals to me as something different is the Inverted Grid Start, in my opinion the way it would work would be only Quali for Sunday and use it for the Inverted Grid for Sprint Race, putting the slower drivers at front and faster drivers at the back problem with that is that this cars and drivers are so fast that in a matter of probably ten laps depending on the circuit fast guys will be at the front again but it still adds up because of traffic, small battles between drivers, probably if you throw in the mix the tires the fast guys can use like a different compound or reduce amount of set of tires then might increase the handicap and make it more interesting but if the faster driver over all wins anyways then we are back to square one, SPRINT RACES MAKE SUNDAY PREDICTABLE and that's the main problem for Real Formula 1 fans.

It is very likely that the format will change for next year, for this year still stays, next race is on Mexico but there wont be a Sprint Race, thx GOD.

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