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What is the future of sprint races?

What is the future of sprint races?

17-09-2021 19:00
1

GPblog.com

During the Italian Grand Prix a sprint race took place for the second time this season. Where Max Verstappen moved to second place and had a lot of advantage on the starting grid on Sunday, Lewis Hamilton had more bad luck because of a bad start. With one more sprint race in Brazil to go, we can slowly take stock. What are the pros and cons of the concept?

The drivers and teams were very positive about the format during the GP of Great Britain, where the first sprint race took place. The concept mainly provided much more excitement on Saturday, which normally involves a third free practice and qualifying session. The race cars had to be there right from Friday with a qualifying session, so making mistakes was almost impossible.

Apart from the excitement, the sprint races provided more surprises on the starting grid. Last weekend is a good example. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton qualified first and second for the sprint race, but the Briton's poor start meant he finished fourth and missed out on a good starting position. Without a sprint race, there was a good chance that Mercedes would also take the first place during the race. The sprint race therefore not only creates excitement at the moment itself, but also on the Sunday.

Future of the sprint race

It is clear that a sprint race will not be a success on every track, but the FIA seems to want to use the current format as a guideline in the coming years to make Formula 1 even more impressive than it already is. If that succeeds then racing will be ready for future generations.