Medland: 'More racing, less practice — why I'm all for extra F1 sprint races'

F1

Six sprint races have been confirmed for the 2023 Formula 1 calendar to a mixed reaction. But for once, when it comes to scheduling, the series has got it right, says Chris Medland

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez on the Imola podium after 2022 F1 sprint race

Gold medal for Max Verstappen in this year's Imola sprint race

Grand Prix Photo

Hypocrite alert: Last week I was writing about my concern that there are too many races on the Formula 1 calendar and now that number has been increased to 30 for 2023 I’m saying it’s a good thing.

OK, so that’s a little misleading, as the 30 races are made up of the 24 grands prix and six sprint events that have now been approved by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, with the latter replacing a practice session and meaning no extra travel for those involved. But it is an increase in intensity during the year.

And it’s a good one.

There’s an added danger when it comes to the growing number of races and that’s the potential for repetition. Of course each venue is different, but the same schedule across each event only adds to the risk of saturation, as fans could become less interested in what’s going on each Friday because there was only a race five days earlier.

Max Verstappen leads at the start of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix sprint race

Too similar? Verstappen leads at start of Austrian GP sprint...

Max Verstappen leads at the start of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix

...and he's also in front for the next day's Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton was one such example of a driver calling for variety across certain race weekends in the past, and on a base level, the sprint provides a break from that monotony. It ensures that there are certain Fridays where there’s a competitive session to be followed, and there is another heartbeat-raising grid start to come on Saturday afternoon before the main event on Sunday.

For every round that the sprint helps drivers who have a tough qualifying recover ahead of the main race, there’s just as likely to be an incident on the Saturday that provides an added bit of intrigue or a further storyline heading into the grand prix itself. Put simply, I don’t think there’s a huge amount that is lost by running a sprint weekend.

Of course there are a few imperfections, such as the debate over how pole position should be marked in the record books, or a lack of data for the heavily-invested fans who like to try and analyse long run pace on a Friday afternoon, or those trackside who prefer the uncompetitive running as a chance to hone their photography skills.

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There’s also the issue of a shorter race providing the best information possible to the teams and their strategists, perhaps leading to convergence on the way they will run their races and reducing the amount of variety across the grid. But thanks to that calendar expansion I’m now spinning to help make my point for me, there are still 18 races (yes, what used to constitute a full season’s worth) where the original format remains and those opportunities are provided.

Plus, I never liked how much practice there is in F1 anyway. The longer you give teams to hone their cars, the more likely you end up with a grid that is close to two-by-two in team sequence, that can then lead to a processional race. Lining cars up in pace order only ever increases that risk, but reducing the lack of practice time makes it that bit more challenging for teams and drivers to hit the ground running, and potentially induce mistakes.

Admittedly, practice on Saturday morning has limited relevance during a sprint weekend, but for anyone complaining that FP2 has become tough to follow, I’ve never understood the desire to make every single aspect of a grand prix event a massive show. Football training sessions and pre-match warm-ups are not widely televised or forced to be more exciting for fans, they’re there to prepare for the game itself.

Much of an F1 weekend building up to Sunday is to prepare for when the lights go out, and sometimes you just have to let the teams run through those preparations. But if you can create a schedule that delivers more competitive action – and action that requires the drivers to call upon their skills — then why not?

Max Verstappen drives up the hill from Eau Rouge and Raidillon in the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix

An alternating year contract has been mooted for Spa

Paul Vaicle / DPPI

The timing of the announcement could have been better, as there is still fresh focus on the ever-expanding calendar and the impact it is having on both those involved in Formula 1 and the wider environment. But that’s not to say it’s a bad move, and it could also open the door for other experiments.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to go all reverse grids on you right now (although, I’m not against trialling them if the right set of regulations can be found…) but I’m actually thinking of the potential to trial some other calendar solutions that could release the pressure on the schedule a little bit.

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We’ve seen certain countries – Germany in particular with Hockenheim and the Nürburgring – alternate their host circuit for a grand prix when it makes financial sense and the idea of calendar rotation has been raised before. But it’s yet to happen, as new venues simply join the list of races while those who can’t pay for a spot disappear.

But to capitalise on the momentum F1 has at the moment, there are surely promoters who would be able to pay half the price to race in alternate seasons in partnership with another race. The sprint could help test those waters moving forward, by regularly changing the tracks that host such a weekend, as they are likely to be charged more for the added coverage and viewership that comes with the extra competitive action.

To be honest, it’s unlikely that F1 is looking at the sprint in that way at the moment, simply focusing on the additional revenue that is generated when you have a competitive session on a Friday. But that also needs to be taken into account. Despite some dissent, if the response to the sprint has been more eyeballs — and in turn more income — then it’s going to be a move that F1 and the teams like.

It probably needs to remain as a rare and interesting twist on a race weekend format rather than become the norm – and one in four races starts to get towards the upper limit of that – but there are certainly worse things than trading a practice session for another spell of racing within the same timeframe.

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