Fernando Alonso believes that it is “the game of who drives the least” during sprint weekends

For Fernando Alonso, the lack of tire sets during the sprint events means that the race weekend cannot be optimized.

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The sprint format means that teams only have one free practice session to prepare their cars before the sprint qualifying and the two races, which implies unusual race strategies compared to standard race events.

During the FP1 in China last week, Lance Stroll finished at the top of a session, where teams focused on long runs before triggering a series of qualifying simulations at the end of the session.

The number of tire sets for sprint events is reduced by one in total, going from 13 to 12. With four sets of medium tires instead of three, six sets of soft tires instead of eight, and the usual two sets of hard tires.

Alonso gave his opinion after the main race in Shanghai. « I think that more tires would be good because during FP1, it’s a game of who drives the least and uses the fewest sets of tires ». He complained about the penalty he received for his collision with the Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz, during the first race last weekend.

“It’s a shame for the fans,” he added. “And then the sprint, if they want it for the show and for the overtaking and you don’t let them race, it’s better not to race.”

Necessary adjustments

The next Grand Prix in Miami will also be a sprint weekend. For Alonso, it will be once again where the tires will be unknown.

« Ideally, you wouldn’t be riding in FP1 to preserve all tires and you wouldn’t participate in the sprint race to avoid losing penalty points on your license. Obviously, we won’t do that because we need to learn something about the car in Miami. But we still have to think, the sprint requires additional adjustments. »

The Mercedes driver, George Russell, stated that he appreciated the modified sprint format for 2024, with the opening of the Parc Fermé after the sprint race and before the Grand Prix qualifying sessions, to allow teams to make configuration adjustments, even if he agrees with Alonso on the idea of increasing the tire allocation.

« I like this format. I think the only thing that could be improved would be to change the tire rule for practice sessions. Maybe give everyone the same set of tires or the same number of tires during practice because it shouldn’t influence the rest of your weekend based on what you do in practice.

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