Can’t help feel this will either be just a bit naff, or giving an additional advantage to an already strong car/driver combo.
The last sprint was interesting because of the changing conditions.
Time for the sprinklers.
Nurse, Bernie’s out of bed and suggesting rule changes again!
in a world that’s moving towards water scarcity, what could go wrong to waste thousands of litres of water out in the desert?
Salt water sprinklers!
Or you get Monza this year :(
I don’t really understand the point of the sprints if they’re not going to do something to shake up the order like they have in the past. With reliability getting more and more universal across teams, sprint results are pretty comparable to the grand prix results.
As a fan I do appreciate having more on-track racing to watch, but I do wish they would reverse the top of the grid again to really shake things up and give those slower teams some more opportunities for points/battles.
Agreed, there is nothing interesting about sprints at all, it’s just quantity over quality at this point.
There are 4 things that make an F1 race interesting:
- the start and first few laps
- pit strategy, over/undercutting, etc
- rain
- Safety cars and red flags (with another shot at point #1).
In sprint races you’re completely eliminating #2. #3 is random and fairly uncommon. And #4 happens the most on shitty tracks like street circuits. Given all of that, you might as well shut off sprint races after the first lap or two. If they want more events during the weekend they need to figure out a different format entirely. A mini GP with no pit stops is not it.
Sprint feels like a gimmick already, so let’s lean into it more. Random starting grid or maybe get BAC or Radical to sponsor it and use a standard set of those cars.
I really don’t understand the push for sprint races… They bring nothing to the table, and yet Dominicalli sell out for them for a quick buck. Everything F1 does in the last 5 years has been extremely short -sighted.
They are maxed out on the number of GPs at this point, so the only way they can squeeze in more product is to eliminate the “filler” like practices and replace them with more racing. More racing = more TV viewers, more ticket sales and attendance on Fridays and Saturdays.
But I agree with you, sprints bring nothing new to the table, it’s just quantity over quality.
That’s all Liberty Media. They own the Atlanta Braves baseball team and I’m just surprised they haven’t had some sort of ‘synergy’ event like pitchers pelting the cars or giving Ozuna (large muscular player) a few minutes alone with a baseball bat and the car on pole before a race.
A car on a pole match? Haha, calm down there Vince Russo!
Sounds like it’s just going to be a trophy of some kind, which would be alright. It’s a pretty darn impressive accomplishment to keep it together in both qualifying and race sessions, so I’d imagine the teams/drivers may actually be proud of them. Not going to be a big deal for viewers though, obviously.
yeah i’m good with another trophy like the mini-tire they sign for pole. I’d say this award should also require getting fastest lap during the race tho.
