Formula 1 moves to China up next for the 2024 Chinese GP, and it will be the first Sprint race weekend of the season. However, the weekend has received its fair share of criticism already, even before it is underway as Lando Norris‘ friend pointed out how the track is not ideal to have the sprint format and can cause mayhem!
F1 hasn’t been to China since 2019 after the country canceled the race for four years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This makes things extremely difficult for drivers to go into Sprint Shootout right after just one practice session.
Furthermore, drivers like Yuki Tsunoda, Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, and Logan Sargeant who made their F1 debuts after 2019, are new to the circuit as they haven’t raced here in an F1 machinery. This led to Aarav, a part of Norris’ Quadrant and a content creator, questioning the need to put the Sprint race in Shanghai.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Wait…. The Chinese GP is a SPRINT round?! They haven’t been to the track in 5 years & with this gen of car and are getting 1 FP session before a Quali etc. Chaos incoming.”
Notably, Aarav’s concerns are not unfounded given Shanghai is infamous for its unpredictable weather at this time of the year, and the track is a high-speed one with long straights as well as hard and tight braking zones, which makes it prone to risky collisions. Interestingly, it was not just Aarav who questioned the FIA’s decision, but F1 drivers as well.
Japanese GP podium holders question the Sprint at the Chinese GP
As Formula 1 returns to China in two weeks’ time, the top three finishers of the Japanese GP questioned the Sprint race format in Shanghai, a track they have not raced for over four years.
Even though drivers love the track, and often praised it for its structure, they still raised the concern. Carlos Sainz, who claimed P3 at Suzuka, said on this as per AP, “I think it’s not a good choice to put the sprint (there) after a four or five years absence. We also heard there is resurfacing going on.”
Sergio Perez synced with the Spanish driver who believes the drivers are going to face hardships on the preparation side of things. Max Verstappen, the race winner of the Japanese GP did not keep away from it either.
He suggested that the next race weekend is going to be “quite hectic,” and putting the Sprint race format in China was “not great.” Given how the track was out of the F1 calendar for so long, he would have preferred it to be a normal race weekend, than to have the opposite.
