Toto Wolff would prefer if F1 stopped experimenting with sprint races, as the format continues to create polarising F1 news headlines.
The US GP hosted the fifth of six scheduled Sprint race weekends in 2023. Even before the weekend began, there was speculation about the impact this format would have on teams introducing updated parts. Aston Martin and Haas made the decision to bring significant upgrade packages to COTA despite the risks entailed.
It soon became apparent that one practice session was not enough to optimise an upgrade. Both teams started the Sunday race from the pitlane, willing to break parc ferme rules to change their set-up to collect some valuable data.
In this sense, Sprint races are very restrictive. Moreover, from an entertainment perspective, the event offered very little. The Saturday Sprint was far less interesting than the actual Grand Prix.
This is a fairly common theme, with only wet conditions or crashes making the roughly 20-lap sprints noteworthy. As a result, there were calls among fans to abolish the concept. After almost three years, this format has done little besides polarise fans.
Not only are the Sprints themselves rather unpopular, but they worsen the overall quality of the race weekend. They cheapen the uniqueness of the Sunday race whilst simultaneously making accompanying sessions less valuable.
In response to this, Formula 1 – seemingly intent on keeping the format – is expected to make further tweaks to the format. These changes could add unnecessary and largely uncalled-for alterations.
Wolff against sprint races
Speaking after last weekend’s action in the States, Toto Wolff made his opinion on further tweaks to sprint races clear:
“I’m conservative in racing. I’d rather have no sprint races,” racefans quotes him as saying.
“If we start to meddle even more and do reverse grid races, we’re going more to a format of junior formulas.
“Sport [would] follow entertainment, whilst entertainment should follow sport.
“The honesty of the stopwatch is what attracts us. Creating artificial gaming around the sprint race on a Saturday is not the way I would favour personally.”
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Team principals can change F1’s course
At this stage, team principals have the largest influence on the format of an F1 race weekend. Fans are largely detached from the decision-making process, given that Sprint races are being pushed to increase viewership on Friday and Saturday.
This pursuit of boosted numbers might work in the short term- but could have unintended consequences in the long term. As evidenced last weekend (and, by extension, the last two years), there is no substitute for a lack of competitiveness.
Races that see several teams fight for the win – as was the case in COTA – are what make exciting racing. Trying to fabricate entertainment undermines F1’s value as a sport whilst also cheapening the shock factor of the drama that is trying to be manufactured.
The upcoming months will show how team principals vote on any suggested changes to Sprint races and whether they become more prominent or not.
