“The devil is in the detail here”- Andrew Green on sprint race format in F1

“The devil is in the detail here”- Aston Martin technical director explains what makes sprint racing impractical for Formula 1.

The sprint race format is being heavily discussed in Formula 1 to inject excitement and unpredictability. But, it has also received an influential backlash for several reasons.

In the new critique of sprint racing, Aston Martin technical director has argued that the proposed setup is not suitable for the sport’s current configurations and would require an overhaul, thus presenting an intricate problem.

“The first thing is we need a set of regulations, and we haven’t got or seen a set of regulations yet around it,” Green explained to the RaceFans. “We’ve seen a proposal, which I think most teams were in favour of examining, but the devil is in the detail and the detail hasn’t been thrashed out yet.”

He pointed out that the current setup of F1 is planned to accommodate three practice sessions, qualifying and a race scattered throughout the weekend.

“There are lots of areas that need looking at,” he said. “You could think of quite a few off the top of your head, like the changing of the car between the events. How much are you allowed to change? Brakes, we will have to change the brakes.

“More importantly, what happens to the power unit allocation? We’re sort of locked in. The engines have been designed and dyno signed off for a certain type of season. And then to go away from that from a power unit perspective will be quite a challenge.

“So there’s a lot to discuss, there’s a lot of details to sort out,” said Green. “There is a general willingness to make it happen but, like I said, the devil is in the detail here.”

Diplomatic Haas

Guenther Steiner recently expressed his views, he says that there is no harm in introducing a change, but also wants F1 to deject the plan if it remains unpopular.

“I don’t think there’s a lot to be gained,” said Steiner. “I want to see how the fans react to it, that we are not putting too much show on. I don’t know that so I’m very open to trying it, I have no issue with that.

“But I have also no issue if it doesn’t work to say, ‘No, we shouldn’t be doing this. If we find out it doesn’t add anything, we shouldn’t be afraid to say ‘no’ and nobody loses any credibility, in my opinion. That’s how we should think of it.”

“There is a few small things which need to be sorted out in the regulations but hopefully we can get them all ironed out and we do some of this so at least we know and we’re not keeping on talking about it.

“We put to the test. If the test works, fantastic. If it doesn’t work, we turn the page and try the next thing.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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