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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
Formula One has confirmed the locations of its six sprint races next year, with China and Miami both adding the shortened race format to their weekends.
As was the case this year, Austria, the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Brazil and Qatar will all retain sprint races in 2024. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix will revert to regular race formats.
China returns to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2019 after a series of cancelled events as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
F1’s sprint format sees a standalone 100km race (roughly 30 percent of the length of a grand prix) added to the bill of a weekend along with its own shortened version of qualifying to set the grid.
Changes to sprint races are due to be discussed at the F1 Commission in January, with a tweak to the schedule of the weekend likely while more radical options, such as reverse grids, are also on the table.
The prospect of a partially reversed grid — possibly flipping the order of the top ten — has been discussed after a series of lackluster sprint races this year. A processional event in Austin led Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to say: “I think you have got to add a bit more jeopardy to it.
“Whether you do a reverse the top 10 or something, you’ve got to add enough points to it to make it worth the drivers to really go for it.”
However, such a radical change is likely to face stiff opposition from some corners of the paddock.
“I’m conservative in racing,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said earlier this year. “I’d rather have no sprint races than if you start to meddle.
“Even more with reverse grid races, we are going towards junior formulae where sport follows entertainment, while entertainment should follow sport. Creating artificial gaming around the sprint race on a Saturday is not the way that I would favour, personally.”
If radical changes aren’t introduced, it is likely that sprint qualifying, known as the shootout, will become the second session on Friday rather than the first session on Saturday, while the sprint race itself will then become the first session on Saturday.
That will allow grand prix qualifying, which took place on Fridays at sprint races this year, to assume its traditional slot as the second track session on Saturday before the full-length grand prix on Sunday.
The change to the order of sessions would also allow F1 to tweak its parc ferme rules, which previously meant teams were unable to change the setup of their cars once grand prix qualifying started on Friday.
In the proposed change, certain setup changes would likely be allowed between the sprint and qualifying on Saturday to allow drivers to refine setups or correct mistakes.
Source: www.espn.com