Changes to Baku Sprint Format

[honda_exige]

A little bit under the radar but big changes about to be pushed through to the format in Baku.

No more FP2 and instead we get 2 qualifying sessions with the Sprint race no longer determining the grid for Sunday.

On the face of it, a good move in my opinion as drivers can now be more aggressive in the Sprint and the Sprint race no longer has the effect of making the main race more boring by fixing cars qualifying out of position. The downside is cars in positions say 13 and below have absolutely nothing to race for in the sprint and may just park up.




https://racingnews365.com/f1-teams-reach-agreement...

Edited by honda_exige on Tuesday 4th April 08:44

[number2]

Qualifying for Sunday on Friday, and a standalone qualifying and race on Saturday with I guess a mini points haul.

Better than practice sessions but perhaps having too much of a good thing (racing/qualifying) devalues it.

[deadslow]

tough challenge to get the cars dialled-in for Friday quali

[Sandpit Steve]

Two Q sessions is a little weird, but hopefully allows more risks to be taken during the Sprint.

I’d still like to see a whole new PU allowed just for the Sprint races, and no Parc Fermé those weekends - let’s see a whole load of lap records.

[Blib]

'First' free practice?

[Dingu]

Blib said:

'First' free practice?

Technically they aren’t wrong.

[honda_exige]

deadslow said:

tough challenge to get the cars dialled-in for Friday quali

As its Parc Ferme after FP1 they'd have to dial in for 2 Quallys, a sprint and the main GP.

RB traditionally struggle with less FPs and Merc might struggle too as the car seems so peaky.

Might work to Aston's advantage as the car seems quick out of the box everywhere - but need to take into account their straight line deficit and RBs advantage in this regard. This would be more interesting at any track other than Baku I think.

[Blib]

Dingu said:

Blib said:

'First' free practice?

Technically they aren’t wrong.

Such a technical sport, F1.

[ChocolateFrog]

As soon as it became obvious you were not going to win any points you'd just retire to save the engine.

Whether that detracts from the spectacle or not I don't know. Something did need to be done as the stakes were too high.

[mat205125]

Moving the qualifying for the main race to the Friday, when a significant proportion of the European fanbase are likely be at work, is a shame.

It's one of the highlights of the race weekend, and potentially having to miss watching these live due to commitments is regrettable, even if my reasoning is unashamedly selfish.

[Sandpit Steve]

mat205125 said:

Moving the qualifying for the main race to the Friday, when a significant proportion of the European fanbase are likely be at work, is a shame.

It's one of the highlights of the race weekend, and potentially having to miss watching these live due to commitments is regrettable, even if my reasoning is unashamedly selfish.

I wonder what time they will run that Friday session?

IIRC, when they did a Sprint at Silverstone in 2021, they ran the Friday qualifying session in the evening to maximise the TV audience.

[honda_exige]

Sandpit Steve said:

mat205125 said:

Moving the qualifying for the main race to the Friday, when a significant proportion of the European fanbase are likely be at work, is a shame.

It's one of the highlights of the race weekend, and potentially having to miss watching these live due to commitments is regrettable, even if my reasoning is unashamedly selfish.

I wonder what time they will run that Friday session?

IIRC, when they did a Sprint at Silverstone in 2021, they ran the Friday qualifying session in the evening to maximise the TV audience.

Yeah Qually sessions would be better swapped around for that reason.

At the moment it's scheduled for 2pm UK time on the Friday.

[Muzzer79]

They sure know how to over-complicate something

So the Sprint was devised, in part, to make the grid more unpredictable and incentivise drivers to 'go for it' more.

It also provided some action for Saturdays, as Qualifying was pushed to Friday (when no-one can watch it on TV )

Now, they don't like that.

So if I'm reading this right; Friday qualifying will be for the Sunday grid?

Which not only makes the weekend more complicated, it makes the Sprint pretty much pointless other than being a competitive test session and the opportunity to score a couple of points if you get on the podium.

Either do the Sprint properly and make it contribute to the Sunday race or don't do it at all......

[mat205125]

..... it also begs interesting questions as to how the parc ferme rules will be applied between race qualifying on the Friday, and the race on Sunday, with another qualifying session and race in between.

All of that with just one FP session to precede the whole show.

[Teppic]

Muzzer79 said:

They sure know how to over-complicate something

So the Sprint was devised, in part, to make the grid more unpredictable and incentivise drivers to 'go for it' more.

It also provided some action for Saturdays, as Qualifying was pushed to Friday (when no-one can watch it on TV )

Now, they don't like that.

So if I'm reading this right; Friday qualifying will be for the Sunday grid?

Which not only makes the weekend more complicated, it makes the Sprint pretty much pointless other than being a competitive test session and the opportunity to score a couple of points if you get on the podium.

Either do the Sprint properly and make it contribute to the Sunday race or don't do it at all......

If it were down to me I'd incentivise the drivers to 'go for it' more by not having any qualifying for the Sprint, but insetead have the starting positions in reverse championship order. Leave the Saturday qualifying to decide the grid for Sunday.

[TikTak]

Teppic said:

Muzzer79 said:

They sure know how to over-complicate something

So the Sprint was devised, in part, to make the grid more unpredictable and incentivise drivers to 'go for it' more.

It also provided some action for Saturdays, as Qualifying was pushed to Friday (when no-one can watch it on TV )

Now, they don't like that.

So if I'm reading this right; Friday qualifying will be for the Sunday grid?

Which not only makes the weekend more complicated, it makes the Sprint pretty much pointless other than being a competitive test session and the opportunity to score a couple of points if you get on the podium.

Either do the Sprint properly and make it contribute to the Sunday race or don't do it at all......

If it were down to me I'd incentivise the drivers to 'go for it' more by not having any qualifying for the Sprint, but insetead have the starting positions in reverse championship order. Leave the Saturday qualifying to decide the grid for Sunday.

I love it but it'd be chaos.

Maybe I'm the only one but I don't think there was massive need to change it at all.

Do wonder if back placed teams will park up and save engines etc. a few laps in?

[HustleRussell]

I’m generally a traditionalist but if a sprint race must be included this is probably the best way to have done it in my opinion. It reduces track time prior to Grand Prix qualifying and preserves that order for the GP.

As someone has already said, it must surely be parc ferme from the sprint qualifying onwards, which means that apart from the additional track time of the sprint qualifying and the sprint itself, the GP is unaffected by the sprint- there is no opportunity for teams to work their way through any setup challenges unresolved after the shorter practice.

I hope they don’t go mad putting them in every race weekend. I hope it stays at no more than 6 weekends per season, and only at circuits which are suited to a sprint race format (not just whichever host pays the most).

I do think they should consider one-shot or F2 style 30 minutes open qualifying for the sprint though. As it stands it sounds like sprint qualifying is going to be longer than the sprint itself. Also I hope practice is reduced for non-sprint weekends as well. Even 2 hours seems generous now that everyone has a handle on the regulations.

[HustleRussell]

ChocolateFrog said:

As soon as it became obvious you were not going to win any points you'd just retire to save the engine.

You could say the same thing about the Grands Prix but nobody really does. The governing body, the sponsors, or both have made that a non-option.

[Jon_Bmw]

HustleRussell said:

As someone has already said, it must surely be parc ferme from the sprint qualifying onwards, which means that apart from the additional track time of the sprint qualifying and the sprint itself, the GP is unaffected by the sprint- there is no opportunity for teams to work their way through any setup challenges unresolved after the shorter practice.

You could trim your car to be super fast in the GP qually to try and guarantee pole, then set it up in the Sprint qually to have good race pace and suffer the 4th/5th/6th(?) place in the Sprint.

Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing! And if it has merit, everyone would do it which negates the point of it.

[geeks]

From a fan point of view it makes the ticket price seem better value