What can Monza learn from the sprint race at Silverstone?

In addition to the conclusion of the triple header in Monza, the upcoming Grand Prix weekend will also be the chosen venue for the second sprint race of the season. This experimental new way of determining the starting grid on Sunday was tried out earlier at Silverstone. What can the organisers at Monza learn from the earlier sprint qualifying in England?

Where the sprint race at Silverstone succeeded in its primary goal of hosting a spectacle on each day of the race weekend, questions can still be asked about the actual spectacle that took place during the sprint. It was hectic through the first few corners, when Max Verstappen took over the lead from Lewis Hamilton, but after that it quickly became a parade towards the finish line.

The most important thing the FIA can take away from the sprint race at Silverstone, then, is the urge to keep experimenting with the format, to try and infuse those 100 kilometres on Saturday with as much excitement as possible.

Free choice essential

One thing that is certain is that the free choice of tyres will be important in fuelling the excitement. Although the top three were relatively safe after just a few laps at Silverstone, it was Fernando Alonso who, with his choice of the soft tyre, was able to fight it out with the rest of the top ten. He was then forced to defend his position against his competitors on the medium tyre, whose compound degraded less quickly. This made for some great battles towards the end of the sprint race.