With F1 heading to Brazil for the Sao Paulo GP, drivers will take to the track on Saturday for the last sprint race of the season. Ahead of the weekend, Carlos Sainz explained how he wants F1 to come up with new innovations regarding the sprint weekend format due to one particular problem with the current format.
According to Sainz, the main problem with the current format of the sprint race is that it gives away a lot of crucial information about the main race on Sunday. He said (as quoted by motorsport.com), “Saturday is too revealing of what’s going to happen on Sunday, which is basically the first stint of the race of Sunday.”
🎙️#Sainz: “6 sprints are enough, but they don’t help the show for Sunday. So maybe reverse grids or whatever. It’s an experiment and we’ll see what format works”
(#F1 Press Conference)#BrazilGP 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/xeInVNwbUM
— Bad Post F1 (@BadpostF1) November 2, 2023
According to the Spaniard, this takes away a huge part of the excitement for the main race on Sunday. Therefore, Sainz urges the FOM to think about other alternatives for the sprint.
He said, “Is that reverse grids? Is that single-lap qualifying? I don’t know. But I think given that the sprint format is a bit of an experiment going on right now in Formula 1, I would be open to keep experimenting to see which format is best.”
Carlos Sainz receives support from Lewis Hamilton
Having reverse grids for sprint races is an idea that has been floated around quite a bit, with drivers having polar responses to the same. However, apart from Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton has also spoken out in favor of having reverse grid races on the sprint weekends.
The Briton explained that his best-ever sprint race experience came in 2021 during the Sao Paulo GP. The Mercedes driver was forced to start the sprint from the back of the grid after getting disqualified following the qualifying session.
#BrazilGP 🇧🇷: Lewis Hamilton on sprint races: “The best sprint race I ever had was when I started last. So I’m in favour of swapping the order – except if we had that then everyone would just try and qualify last.” 👀 pic.twitter.com/orKW241Mzv
— deni (@fiagirly) November 2, 2023
Hamilton made up a total of 15 places in the 24 laps of the race. He managed to finish P5 but had to start the main race from P10 following a grid penalty for a new engine component. He made an amazing dash up the field and went on to win the main race.
