80 replies to this topic

[SophieB]

Next year’s Sprint races have been announced, so in the words of Miss Jean Brodie:

“For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.”

Enjoy, Sprint lovers!

[SilverArrow31]

Cant wait for the SC in Spa to make it a 5 lap race...

Edited by SilverArrow31, 11 July 2024 - 12:47.

[Dalton007]

They are not committing to many sprint races - why? 

[Bleu]

While not generally liking the sprints, I think they fit better to shorter circuits - therefore not a fan of Belgium replacing Austria (other five are same as this year)

[JimmyClark]

While not generally liking the sprints, I think they fit better to shorter circuits - therefore not a fan of Belgium replacing Austria (other five are same as this year)

 

Agreed. For fans at Spa, it can't be great. 

[SenorSjon]

They are not committing to many sprint races - why? 

 

Because after DTS, they will need to have fans left?

[Spillage]

Six sprints too many IMO. At least they're not really cluttering the European calendar next year.

[Clatter]

I'm surprised the circuits are willing to pay the extra fee. Does it bring in more punters?

[P123]

They are not committing to many sprint races - why? 

 

FOM charge the promoters more for hosting them.... so on those grounds it is surprising that they still manage to get six willing to throw away cash.

[Yoshi]

Spa as replacement for Austria... Oh come on... Leave Spa alone... Austria was perfect for the sprint.

Edited by Yoshi, 11 July 2024 - 14:05.

[IrvTheSwerve]

What if no promoters are willing to pay for a Sprint? Does that mean Liberty will choose 6 and give them out for free?

[Stephane]

It's kind of always the same tracks, no ?

[Mark521]

What if no promoters are willing to pay for a Sprint? Does that mean Liberty will choose 6 and give them out for free?

 

IMO, the answer is No. The "sprint race" concept was to increase the amount of spend at a specific GP weekend, thus the promoters could afford a larger sanctioning fee. Liberty also makes a few more bucks on the TV package but that's not the driver. As the number of sprint races hasn't increased, this tells me that the concept isn't as financially attractive as was hoped.

 

Personally I could do without them but I am sensitive to the promoter's needs but this doesn't look like a "must have" for the promoters.

[Ruusperi]

Phew, only 6. What a relief. I was afraid Domenicali would add more. Guess they're not making as much money as they hoped. Good.

[KWSN - DSM]

I do like the sprints, but apart from Spa and Brazil when not having on all tracks, they could have chosen better.

[F1 Mike]

The odd thing also is that Spa has already been looking shaky on the calendar going forward, due to the uncertainty of being able to afford the financial demands of a new race contract

[loki]

Only six?  Damn…

[P123]

Spa is rubbish for a sprint.  Too few laps to even be half interesting, which the full Spa race struggles enough with already.

[Wes350]

The only way to make the sprint races interesting IMO would be to make them all run F2 cars…

Run them with the team liveries, but let’s put everyone in equal equipment, and see how the F1 grid really shakes out over six quali and race sessions.

It’d probably be cheaper for the teams, and more interesting for the fans.

Obviously there would be things to work out, but I think that running F2 cars for the “sprint” races would liven things up. Naturally fewer points would have to be available, but that is something that can be worked out.

Edited by Wes350, 12 July 2024 - 01:28.

[William Hunt]

Sprints would be nice if they either would reverse  grids or if they would do them with reserve drivers

[Stephane]

But, sprints are good already.

[Disgrace]

Sprints would be nice if they either would reverse  grids or if they would do them with reserve drivers

 

What about reverse grids of reserve drivers doing the course in reverse?

[Pingu Pi]

Far too long making it less overtaking opportunities. However If it brings more income to the track which means they can pay the Liberty fees then fair but from a racing perspective a poor decision from what we know. 

[SenorSjon]

What if no promoters are willing to pay for a Sprint? Does that mean Liberty will choose 6 and give them out for free?

 

No, they extort the tracks close to a contract end to take the sprint or lose their place on the calender. Plus the additional fee of course for the marvellous sprint.

 

The only way to make the sprint races interesting IMO would be to make them all run F2 cars…

Run them with the team liveries, but let’s put everyone in equal equipment, and see how the F1 grid really shakes out over six quali and race sessions.

It’d probably be cheaper for the teams, and more interesting for the fans.

Obviously there would be things to work out, but I think that running F2 cars for the “sprint” races would liven things up. Naturally fewer points would have to be available, but that is something that can be worked out.

 

Too bad F2 can't field 20 identical cars that work long enough to complete a sprint race.

[absinthedude]

Bin them. Then burn the bin. Then launch the ashes into outer space and nuke them. 

[LolaB0860]

Domenicali on reverse grids for F1 sprints: ‘Nothing fake about it’
https://www.motorspo...ut-it/10642865/

In recap:

- Sprints are great and purists no longer oppose them
- There should be 8 sprints instead of 6
- Reverse grid sprints would be good
- Practice sessions are useless

Edited by LolaB0860, 08 August 2024 - 08:09.

[JvsKVB77]

Domenicali on reverse grids for F1 sprints: ‘Nothing fake about it’
https://www.motorspo...ut-it/10642865/

In recap:

- Sprints are great and purists no longer oppose them
- There should be 8 sprints instead of 6
- Reverse grids would be good
- Practice sessions are useless

Seems like news from parallel universe

[DaddyCool]

Seems like news from parallel universe

That has been standard Domenicali procedure for a while now.

[Yoshi]

He should take his suitcase and leave F1 asap - thank you.

[noikeee]

Domenicali on reverse grids for F1 sprints: ‘Nothing fake about it’
https://www.motorspo...ut-it/10642865/

In recap:

- Sprints are great and purists no longer oppose them
- There should be 8 sprints instead of 6
- Reverse grid sprints would be good
- Practice sessions are useless

Why do they continue with this death by a million papercuts strategy, and slowly increase the number of sprint races each year?

 

Just go straight for the reverse sprint race every weekend like they want to. Stop treating us fans like children. Yeah we don't want sprint races nor reverse grids in F1, but you're gonna do it anyway, stop pretending you're not going to.

[SenorSjon]

How do people like him get into these positions. I understand the unnamed Liberty Overlords want to go full NASCAR on F1, but sentences like "While resistance to the Saturday sprint format has died down" he has no clue. Just like we miss engine sounds from the v10 era, we don't say that every day. But we still miss them.

He especially does not understand why, in an era when teams are running endless simulations to perfect their set-ups, F1’s normal weekend format allows for three practice sessions that count for nothing beyond helping engineers.

*facepalm*

You know, testing ban? Engineers also need to learn and the only possibility is at the track.

So my dream will be: every time that you go on the track, there is something to fight for

That is my nightmare. If you need to watch everything, watching nothing could end up preferential, especially with rising paytv costs.

[Ruusperi]

- Sprints are great and purists no longer oppose them
 

What kind of Orwellian doublespeak is that? Taken straight from Putin's propaganda machine   The reality is that not only purists but even Netflix-fans hate sprints today.

Obviously Domenicali has only seen the survey where they have a statement "I love sprint races __" with options 1) Very much 2) A lot 3) More than my family.

[Stoffel]

Domenicali on reverse grids for F1 sprints: ‘Nothing fake about it’
https://www.motorspo...ut-it/10642865/

In recap:

- Sprints are great and purists no longer oppose them
- There should be 8 sprints instead of 6
- Reverse grid sprints would be good
- Practice sessions are useless

 

Liberty very quickly went from having Chase Carey and Ross Brawn coming up with very logical decisions to suddenly having this clown being in charge.

Edited by Stoffel, 08 August 2024 - 10:22.

[SenorSjon]

Liberty very quickly went from having Chase Carey and Ross Brawn coming up with very logical decisions to suddenly having this clown being in charge.

Brawn was also infected. He also propagated the sprints.

[Beri]

For the ones who didnt know; I hate these Sprint Events. And I refuse to call them races. Ever.

[Collombin]

They are a lot closer to being races than they are to being sprints though. Crap choice of name.

[dweller23]

Every sprint weekend is less exciting for me than a regular GP weekend. Once you see the order on Saturday it feels like there's not much that will change before Sunday. Sure, there's no Parc Ferme these days between Sprint and GP quali, but let's be honest, there's not gonna be too much changes in the order. It just sucks the excitement out of the event, especially when you are attending in person - the anticipation build up over the three days on a regular weekend is much better than knowing the ballpark results with one day before the main event.

[Stephane]

Most people never needed the sprint to say f1 is boring with predictable results.


I am personally watching the racing more than the result.

Edited by Stephane, 08 August 2024 - 12:55.

[LolaB0860]

 

Why do they continue with this death by a million papercuts strategy, and slowly increase the number of sprint races each year?

 

Well to be fair they haven't really managed to increase the number that much

 

2021 - 3 sprints

2022 - 3

2023 - 6

2024 - 6

2025 - 6

 

Probably because no-one actually wants them except for Liberty, some advisory focus groups, and 27 fans

[noikeee]

Brawn was also infected. He also propagated the sprints.

It was his job to maximise profit. Now it's Domenicali's job.

The difference is we saw Ross as the cool grandpa, but they had the same agenda because they were hired to do the same thing, just at different stages of the process. It was dumb to ever think Ross was acting on our interests. He was acting on the interests of the people paying his salary.

[Anja]

The key to expanding the sprint number will be the race promoters - not all of them are on board: https://www.grandpri...s-promoter.html

[LolaB0860]

The key to expanding the sprint number will be the race promoters - not all of them are on board: https://www.grandpri...s-promoter.html

$4 million extra for the privilege of the extra action of a sprint format event.

I like to think that they laughed while writing this.

[F1 Mike]

I only hope most tracks side with the majority and say no to sprints. They achieve nothing.

[jacdaniel]

I understand why people might find practice boring but it’s very necessary to ensure that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport.

I mean, imagine watching a football match if teams didn’t train and work on tactics… you end up with a Sunday league.

[Goron3]

I feel like there's an obvious solution to make Sprints better (although I do quite like the current format tbh).

 

- Make Sprints a seperate Championship

- Give points for Sprint Qualifying (20 for pole winner, 1 for 20th).

- Then, do a full reversed grid race on Saturday (i.e. Reverse of Sprint Qualifying) with the same points allocation. 

- Have a suitable gap between the Sprint and Regular Qualifying to account for incidents.

 

This way:

 

- The Sprint race doesn't give too much away in terms of regular race pace, because the fastest cars will all be at the back and running in dirty air

- The main championship isn't impacted at all

- You can ignore it if you want. Those that attend the GP's and watch the whole weekend on TV get proper bang for buck

[danmills]

Sprint at outer Bahrain...

[PayasYouRace]

I understand why people might find practice boring but it’s very necessary to ensure that F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport.

I mean, imagine watching a football match if teams didn’t train and work on tactics… you end up with a Sunday league.

The problem with F1 and other high level motorsport is that they’re practicing all the time, virtually, back at the factory. The practice sessions now are just used to check their sims’ results in real life.

[JvsKVB77]

I feel like there's an obvious solution to make Sprints better (although I do quite like the current format tbh).

 

- Make Sprints a seperate Championship

- Give points for Sprint Qualifying (20 for pole winner, 1 for 20th).

- Then, do a full reversed grid race on Saturday (i.e. Reverse of Sprint Qualifying) with the same points allocation. 

- Have a suitable gap between the Sprint and Regular Qualifying to account for incidents.

 

This way:

 

- The Sprint race doesn't give too much away in terms of regular race pace, because the fastest cars will all be at the back and running in dirty air

- The main championship isn't impacted at all

- You can ignore it if you want. Those that attend the GP's and watch the whole weekend on TV get proper bang for buck

Yes, all teams would do exactly this) Because for what they need to participate in this?

Edited by JvsKVB77, 09 August 2024 - 10:31.

[JvsKVB77]

The problem with F1 and other high level motorsport is that they’re practicing all the time, virtually, back at the factory. The practice sessions now are just used to check their sims’ results in real life.

Close factories for race weekends like at summer break. At least teams will do their work at circuit. 

Edited by JvsKVB77, 09 August 2024 - 10:34.

[PayasYouRace]

Close factories for race weekends like at summer break. At least teams will do their work at circuit.

I don’t see how that would change anything. The teams are getting all their practicing done in the week.