Does Formula 1 need even more sprint races? Fans have their say
F1
Formula 1's sprint races have added some drama to the calendar, but with rumours of the format expanding to as many as 10 or 12 weekends, the series faces a key question: is more always better?
“I see the positives. People are making more money.”
That was Max Verstappen‘s reply when asked about Formula 1’s sprint weekends amid suggestions that the series’ bosses are looking into increasing the number of short races in 2027.
“I understand that sports evolve and stuff like that. But we shouldn’t go too crazy. I think a sprint race is already, from my side, crazy enough,” the four-time world champion added.
The format split opinion among fans and drivers when it was introduced in 2021, and the subject continues to be one of the most divisive features of grand prix weekends.
Although drivers have become used to sprint weekends, not all are in favour of the short Saturday morning races.
Next year’s sprint races have already been announced. Once again there will be six during the season, but recent speculation suggests that their number will increase from 2027, growing to ten or even 12 rounds per year. Talks among F1 bosses are expected to continue over the next months.
Fans, meanwhile, appear to be mostly against adding more sprint weekends.
An Instagram post by Motor Sport on Tuesday asked fans if they would like more sprints in the future, the response was unanimously negative.
“Sprint races aren’t as entertaining as they hoped, I’m sure it’s more about entertaining than racing,” one user wrote. “I would rather see no sprint races and bring back refuelling mid-race.
“From a viewer perspective, the sprint races look too clinical, the drivers and teams must be fearful of an accident and missing the GP.”
Fans don’t appear to want more sprint weekends
Grand Prix Photo
“No, absolutely not. The whole weekend is so disjointed and the teams are terrified of racing too hard in the sprint race so utterly pointless and dull,” another user commented.
The comments on X (formerly Twitter) were also overwhelmingly in support of no more sprint races, with many calling for fewer or even no sprint weekends.
The sprint race dream
When sprint races arrived, the concept was clear: a shorter race on Saturday would break tradition, and set the grid for Sunday’s grand prix, offering fans more wheel-to-wheel combat than a standard qualifying session.
It was a concept designed to modernise F1, attract younger audiences, and give broadcasters extra highlight reels across a race weekend.
Instead of three meaningless practice sessions before Saturday afternoon qualifying, fans suddenly had meaningful running on all three days: practice plus qualifying on Friday, a sprint on Saturday, grand prix on Sunday.
The logic was commercially irresistible: more content for broadcasters, more spectacle for ticket holders, and potentially unpredictable outcomes.
Fast-forward to today and the format hasn’t quite delivered as hoped, despite fine-tuning, which means that more points are awarded for sprint races, which now have no effect on the grand prix grid.
Some sprints have delivered memorable flashpoints, but many have felt like processions that just previewed what would happen on Sunday.
The addition of sprint-specific qualifying has made the events busier but also less pure, its complexity undermining the traditional weekend flow.
Can the calendar fit 12 sprint races?
MotoGP, now also belonging to F1 owner Liberty Media, adopted the sprint idea from F1, but took it to the ultimate extreme, making every weekend a double-header.
That has led to recurrent complaints from riders as the series has faced an unprecedented number of injuries.
While the risk of injury remains a less significant factor for F1 drivers, the risk of burnout is similar.
The F1 calendar is already swollen to 24 races and weekends are busier than ever. If nearly half of those include an added sprint, the uniqueness of the format – its original selling point – might vanish.
Sprints were intended as occasional, special events; making them the norm risks diluting both their excitement and the prestige of the grand prix even further.
Will viewers watch more sprints?
The key question, however, and what F1 bosses will ultimately care about, is whether people are watching.
F1 said that TV viewership for sprint weekends was, on average, 10% greater than non-sprint weekends.
It also claimed that the sprint race at Spa saw a “significant rise in TV viewership in both heritage and growth markets”, including in Germany (+40%), France (+42%), China (+182%), and Argentina (+9%), when compared to the only European sprint weekend in 2024 (in Austria).
For now at least, sprint weekends generate more content, more broadcast slots, and more data for Liberty to sell to sponsors and streaming partners.
For promoters, a Saturday mini-race offers more incentive for spectators to buy three-day weekend tickets.
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The benefits from the sporting side are less clear.
Does the sprint format really improve competition? Expanding the number might boost revenue in the short term, but it could also erode the core rhythm that has sustained the championship for decades.
A handful of sprint weekends each season adds intrigue and variety, but what fans and drivers alike worry about is the “more is better” mentality that reigns in so many sports worldwide these days.
Purists might argue that F1 risks undermining what makes its showcase event — the Sunday race — special, but in its pursuit of infinite growth and more revenue, there is a chance that the championship’s bosses don’t agree with that vision anymore.
Instead, they see the grand prix weekend as a whole package in which sprint races are another valuable element in helping the series continue to grow.
Formula 1 thrives when it balances spectacle with tradition, but F1 bosses know that as long as fans continue to tune in, they can keep pushing the boundaries, even at the cost of blurring the lines between sport and business.
