💨 Five ways to improve sprint qualifying

It’s a great idea in theory. Replace a Formula 1 practice session with one that means something. Award points, set the grid and compress the number of laps available so drivers have to take a few more risks to advance up the grid.

(c) F1 on Twitter

Here’s how it’s worked after two sprints:

Driver/Points

GBR

ITA

PTS

Max Verstappen

3

2

5

Valtteri Bottas

1

3

4

Lewis Hamilton

2

0

2

Daniel Ricciardo

0

1

1

None of this makes a difference to the Drivers' standings, but the Merc six points to Red Bull's five keeps the champions ahead by a point.

But it seems the fears critics had before its introduction are coming true - it isn’t encouraging bold overtaking for most drivers, but most are staying conservative, knowing that if it goes wrong, it can compromise their race, whereas hovering around 11th or 12th means you’re only a couple of overtakes or mistakes away from a valuable point on Sunday.

There’s one more sprint in Brazil before F1 reassesses the format and may make some tweaks to something that is here to stay. After its announcement, I wrote something about it too, and the last point seems to have the biggest impact - it doesn’t seem to have a storytelling narrative in its current form.

The shake up needs a shake up, and here are some ideas.

⏪ Reverse the grid

This feels like the easiest and most obvious change to make. In a real-life sports world that is increasingly being influenced by video games, imagine this scenario in F1 2021: You are in a Mercedes, but you’re on row 10 and you have to fight your way up the order. Oh, and you have to do it in 33% race distance.

Apply that to the whole grid so it's reverse championship order. In Brazil, that's the Haas pair on row 1, with Antonio Giovinazzi and Nicolas Latifi in behind.

If the Italian sprint had worked like this, we’d have seen a front row of Robert Kubica from Nikita Mazepin, with Mick Schumacher and - on his home race - Giovinazzi on row two. A Schumacher near the front in Italy immediately brings in lapsed fans, and the smaller teams get the extra exposure from global TV coverage and interest at the front.

Then you look further back and see Hamilton and Verstappen fighting their way through the field, guaranteeing excitement and overtaking opportunities. At the same time, you can make Friday’s qualifying session matter more by having that set the grid for Sunday, and put the sprint in its own league.

➕ More points-paying positions

Only the top three take points for the sprint, and in a championship battle that’s so tight, those points really matter for the top teams. Lower down the order is a different story with teams not fighting it out as much, knowing that they’re not going to challenge the podium.

Extending the number of positions that pay points could encourage teams to push their drivers higher. Maybe giving points to the top six would give a reward to the middle-order. Or get really experimental - top six constructors get points, but only for the higher-placed driver.

⚙️ New tyre compositions

It was fairly confusing to casual fans, but I enjoyed the Pirelli rainbow era of varying hyperbole + soft/hard tyres. Now, Pirelli brings three from five types of dry tyres to each weekend, but perhaps the sprint could be improved if teams had more tyre options to choose from.

At the same time, the 100kms of running could also be slightly extended to push the tyres, although the issue becomes whether drivers end up “managing” their tyres, contradicting the entire point of a sprint.

The other option is to ask Pirelli to make an entirely new tyre for the sprint races. One that makes the cars quicker, but degrade even faster, forcing teams to pit, adding another strategic layer to the sprint.

🍃 Change the DRS

The drag reduction system kicks in when a car is within one second of one in front of them, allowing a slot in the rear wing to open on a couple of straights each lap. It can lead to trains of cars, all with DRS, unable to overtake each other. I’d like to see the window extended to maybe two seconds of the car in front to allow for cars to get closer to each other. No one is coming from two seconds back to overtake, but it could bring drivers closer together.

📺 Put it on free-to-air

This isn’t an issue in some countries, but in the UK for example, the sprint race is behind a paywall. Sky Sports pay a huge amount of money for exclusivity, with Channel 4 screening highlights on a delayed basis. But for a session that’s aimed at casual fans, it seems perfect to be a free-to-air showcase and get people interested into the main event. 

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