Formula 1’s sprint qualifying format is back for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the drivers are split as to whether it will be a success this weekend.
Brazil completes a three-race trial of the new format which is expected to be run at six grands prix in 2022.
Silverstone and Monza have already trialled it out and while there was a lack of track action in the shorter sprint on the Saturday, having three days of meaningful running has been positive.
Formula 1 title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton haven’t spoken too positively about F1 sprint making a return this weekend, with the Red Bull driver still favouring the traditional format.
“I mean the main excitement comes from the start because after that with the amount of laps that you do then you put the tyre on that will last to the end mainly – especially the guys in the front – and there’s not a lot of passing going on,” Verstappen said.
“So I don’t think it really matters where you do it. I think there are still a few things to fine-tune about it, but if people like the excitement of the start, then to do two starts in a weekend, why not?
“I think personally I’m a bit more for the traditional F1 weekend. If we have competitive cars and all the teams closer together then naturally you don’t need to change anything, so we’ll see.”
Despite there being a long start-finish straight at Interlagos, Hamilton doubts there will be too much on-track action.
“No, this is not a very good track for overtaking,” Hamilton explained. “Of course, you’ve got that long straight but I believe it’s close to one of the hardest places for overtaking in the list of… on the edge on the list of one of the hardest of the year.
“I think you’ve got to have something like a 1.1-second advantage on the car ahead to have a 50 per cent chance of overtaking – something crazy like that, so it’s not a great one.”
Conversely, Valtteri Bottas is confident we will see more overtaking in Brazil than in Mexico last weekend.
“I think so. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t be good,” Bottas said. “Overtaking is possible here, it’s definitely better than Mexico, that’s my feeling, but we’ll find out on Saturday.”
Unlike Verstappen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc isn’t a fan of F1’s traditional format and welcomes the return of sprint qualifying.
“I quite like those weekends, especially the Friday which normally I don’t really like on a normal weekend,” Leclerc added.
“To have the qualifying straight away, the Friday afternoon, this makes it exciting for everyone and then Saturday the sprint race, maybe there are a few things that we could change in the future but still, I am very excited for this weekend and again, it’s a bit different too normal. Maybe it is an opportunity for us to do even better.”
Fernando Alonso has been one beneficiary of the new format, making up five places at the start of the Silverstone sprint in what was a stunning Lap 1.
The two-time champion admits that ‘balancing the risk’ is crucial given that one incident could send you to the back of the grid for the main grand prix.
“Well it has been positive for us in Silverstone and Monza,” Alonso said. “You never know, it’s a very random result what you can get on those weekends. You can get very lucky and recover some places on Saturday and Sunday or you can be very unlucky.
“We saw a couple of examples – I think Checo in Silverstone, Pierre in Monza – where something happened on Saturday and your weekend is very compromised. You have to balance a little bit the risk you put on Saturday especially because it can be good in order to start further up on Sunday or it can be very bad if you have a DNF on Saturday.
“We will try to manage that and as I said the most important thing is to feel again a good level of competitiveness.”
