In 2021, F1 introduced Sprint races to the calendar, which aimed at making race weekends more exciting. While it has added to the competitive spirit, the idea has not caught on within teams and engineers, which is what Lando Norris brought up after the Chinese GP.
Norris, in the post-race press conference, spoke about how difficult life gets for engineers because of Sprint races.
“The hundreds of mechanics and engineers that we have here that have to travel so much. It’s not healthy for them, it’s not sustainable.”
Sprint races are shorter versions of Grand Prix races, and drivers have to cover just 62 miles. There were just three Sprints in 2021 and 2022, but the number has now reached six. Even though they don’t offer as much reward as a regular race, teams go all out in trying to score every available point. It leads to more mistakes, crashes, and potential headaches for the teams.
The workload increases because of the six additional races team members have to prepare for. Plus, they cannot afford the luxury that drivers and some senior members of the teams can. Norris sheds light on this and reveals how difficult it is for them to travel all over the world, doing the same.
Constant fatigue is a consequence of this, which could lead to menacing errors, something both Mercedes and Ferrari witnessed at the 2023 US GP Sprint in Austin.
Lando Norris resonates with Max Verstappen’s feelings
Sprint races have always been a topic of discussion, both positively and negatively. While it does add more to a race weekend, drivers and teams aren’t fans of how F1 squeezed in six additional races to a calendar that has 24 already. Max Verstappen led the charge on this front, criticizing the new format openly.
Verstappen pointed out how hectic it becomes for everyone to have two added competitive sessions in the same race weekend (Sprint shootout and Sprint Race). It also puts a burden on teams from a financial point of view.
If drivers crash or make mistakes that damage the car, teams will have to incur additional costs. It becomes difficult, especially for the smaller teams, to accommodate this under the current cost cap.
F1 doesn’t seem to want Sprint races to go away, but to keep their top talents like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen happy, they could have to make some changes to the format once again.
