Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has called for “more jeopardy” in the current sprint format to excite the fans and the drivers.
It was a pretty dull affair at the COTA sprint race on Saturday afternoon as Max Verstappen cruised to victory, leading second-placed Lewis Hamilton by more than eight seconds. After facing some initial challenge from the Mercedes driver, the triple world champion’s win in the sprint race never looked in doubt.
Speaking with RacingNews365, Horner favored changing the format to make it more exciting for everyone involved. He said:
“I think what [the sprint race] does, it gives you a very good insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors on the longer runs. I still think there are things that can be done to evolve the Sprint race. [….] You’ve got to add a bit more jeopardy to it.”
He added:
“Whether you reverse the top 10 or something, but then you have to add enough points to make it worth the drivers’ while to go for it. When you win a sprint race, it doesn’t quite mean as much as a Grand Prix. We’re in a process where we need to be open to change and evolution. The concept is fine, but the execution, we can do a better job in making it more exciting for the viewer.”
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has said that he wasn’t particularly excited by the current sprint format.
He said that he feels a bit lost after the qualifying session for the main race on Saturday and also post the sprint shootout as it doesn’t really mean anything substantial. In his post-Sprint press conference, the Red Bull driver said:
“I don’t really get excited by it. In qualifying, I just feel like once you complete qualifying, you’re a bit lost. I feel like we only need one qualifying in the weekend where you really put everything on the line and it feels great.
“This morning as well, like you put it on P1 but I’m like it’s a Saturday, there’s not many points anyway for the race.
It will be fascinating to see if F1 makes any changes in the sprint format heading into the next season as most drivers and teams are not particularly excited by the current situation.
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