Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen Led Clan Will Not Appreciate Carlos Sainz’s Rally for Controversial F1 Format

With F1 races usually being dominated by one team or one driver, the idea of a ‘reverse grid’ has been proposed for quite a long time. However, not many drivers have been on board with this idea. Now, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz recently appeared on the P1 podcast and put up a good argument as to why the reverse grid should be brought into the sport.

Throughout the years almost all of the drivers have voiced their opinions regarding reverse grid races and the majority of them were in the negative. Back in 2019, Lewis Hamilton said, “The people that are proposing this don’t really know what they’re talking about.”

Yes we need a reverse grid f1 race . https://t.co/Fv9clY6Zg4

— Akash Sharma (@gulab_jamunx) September 11, 2023

Reigning champion Max Verstappen had said, “I don’t like it. It’s just artificial and trying to create a show which I think it’s not what Formula 1 stands for.” As for Sainz back then, he had expressed that he was on the fence, not sure whether it was a good idea or a bad one.

Carlos Sainz believes that reverse grid races would be a fun addition to the weekend

Fast forward to now, Sainz believes that reverse grid races can actually be part of an F1 race weekend. In a recent video by P1 with Matt and Tommy, when asked about one rule that he would like to change in F1, Sainz said, “I would do the sprint weekends in a reverse Championship order grid.”

He then went on to narrate a scenario where Verstappen would be starting the race from the back of the grid. And the Ferraris would be starting from P16 or so. The slower teams would be starting from the front.

Sainz said, “The whole field would be like, closing on each other.” And if the points are given to the top 10, then the fast runners at the back of the grid would try their best to get some overtakes in.

And as for the slower cars, they would know that this would be their best chance to score points. Thus, they would defend even harder than usual. He also made it clear that this potential format shouldn’t affect the rest of the weekend.

Is the Sprint Race a possibility in F1?

Sainz then shared his thoughts on whether this format could ever turn into reality. The Madrid-born driver admitted that some drivers are talking about this.

He said, “If you really want the sprint weekend make it interesting. And make the sprint race something different why don’t we try this.” As of now, the sprint race is just a spoiler of the actual race.

Sainz explained that the main issue with the current format of the Sprint race is that it is almost like a race simulation. It gives a picture of how the first one-third of the main race would be like. Changing it would eliminate this issue and make it even more interesting.