The drivers are divided on the new Sprint format

Last year, the Sprint format required that the whole grid had only one free practice session on Friday morning to set up their cars for the whole weekend because the race qualifying took place on Friday afternoon. This meant that if the teams made a mistake after this single session, they were condemned to live with these bad settings for the entire weekend.

So the FIA has decided to adapt the format for this new season. Now it is the Sprint race qualifications that take place on Friday afternoon, with the Sprint race held on Saturday morning. This means that this part of the program is now almost independent of the rest of the weekend as the Parc Fermé is now only set up on Saturday evening, after the qualifications for the race. The only risk now is to have an accident on Saturday morning, which could compromise the qualifications.

When questioned about the topic, the drivers declared themselves divided on the subject. Esteban Ocon thus commented: “It’s a better rule yes. But I’m still not a fan of Sprint weekends, especially on weekends like this one. It’s a good thing during calmer weekends, like Shanghai or Baku. But on races like here, where there are a lot of events, it’s difficult for the marketing department to work with us. We are so focused on the fact that all sessions count that we have to turn down most events even though it would be good for sponsors. So not a fan of a Sprint in Miami.”

During the press conference, Oscar Piastri commented: “It’s probably a good decision for us drivers and engineers. However, not necessarily for the mechanics.” This observation about the additional work it adds for the members of the shadow was also shared by the other drivers interviewed on the subject, such as Sergio Perez.

Charles Leclerc thus showed a balanced opinion on the subject: « I preferred the old format. There were many points to be taken on Saturday. But the new format makes more sense because it gives a chance to correct if we made a mistake on Friday. »

Logan Sergeant, for his part, reflected on the difficulty of chaining very different exercises: “It is not easy to prepare for the qualification when we are going slower during the Sprint race.” In the end, the Floridian would simply prefer to have “24 normal weekends.”

In his characteristic style, Lance Stroll even went so far as to call for a weekend format concentrated on only two days: « We have 24 races. There are so many Thursdays (Editor’s note: press day). We could do three hours of practice on Saturday morning, qualifying in the afternoon and the race on Sunday »…