Max Verstappen says the new sprint-race format will make the Azerbaijan Grand Prix “a little more chaotic”.
The Red Bull driver said: “This track is normally quite chaotic and this will only make it more chaotic.”
Fernando Alonso said it was “more challenging and stressful”. And Lewis Hamilton feels it is “the most exciting weekend so far this year”.
The new format, confirmed only two days ago, will be used at all six of F1’s ‘sprint’ events this year, starting in Baku this weekend.
The key change is that it separates out the ‘sprint’ race on Saturday from the main grand prix.
In the last two years, the sprint – a shorter race run to about one-third of the distance of a grand prix – set the grid for the main event on Sunday.
Now, a Friday qualifying session sets the grid for the grand prix, while Saturday starts with a qualifying session – called the ‘sprint shoot-out’ – which sets the grid for the ‘sprint’ later that afternoon.
The changes also remove a practice session on Saturday in which teams ran only with race fuel loads and which had little value as a spectacle.
Alonso, who returned to F1 in 2021 after two years away, said going straight into qualifying on Saturday would be a new experience for all the drivers.
“When I was out of the sport those two years, I was not watching the practice,” Alonso said.
“They were too long and boring. So I see the point of making something different on the weekend.
“We have to embrace that and help f1 and hopefully the fans will give us a good feedback.
“But it is more stressful, especially the Saturday. Friday, we are used to this new format where we only have one practice.
“But the really different thing now is Saturday. Even in the past, doing one qualifying on Friday and Saturday, like in 2004 or 2006 or whenever, we had always practice before qualifying.
“Now, we have breakfast, we go in the car, we tighten the belts and we are in Q1. This is completely new. It is stressful, for sure, and more difficult for the drivers.”
The idea behind the changes is to introduce more jeopardy into the ‘sprint’ by encouraging drivers to take more risks.
The previous format for sprint weekends, which were introduced in 2021, had the Friday qualifying session setting the grid for the sprint and the result of the sprint establishing the grid for the main grand prix.
That meant drivers were reluctant to take chances in the sprint because any errors or accidents would disproportionately harm their chances in the grand prix.
The new format received a universally warm reaction from the drivers on Thursday’s media day in Baku, although Verstappen repeated his opinion that F1 had to be careful not to burn out its participants with too much racing.
“I understand selling more tickets on Friday and Saturday to make every day worth fighting for,” the world champion said.
“But when you do 24, 25 weekends a good option would be to shorten a bit the weekend.
“It needs to be healthy and at one point you start questioning that and if you add in the sprint weekends it makes it even more busy.”
Alonso and Taylor Swift?
Alonso arrives in Baku after a week in which he became an internet sensation following speculation in the Spanish media that he might be dating the pop star Taylor Swift went viral.
On Monday, the Aston Martin driver nodded to the situation when he released a short video on TikTok, in which he was pictured listening to a a speeded up version of Swift’s song ‘Karma’ and winked at the camera.
He laughed when the subject was brought up in Baku and referenced other memes which have centred on him in recent times, including a widespread focus in his native Spain on ’33’ – his quest for a 33rd victory after 10 years away from the top step of the podium.
“I have been always active and ironic a little bit on social media,” Alonso said. “I remember in the Ferrari days doing a lot of samurai quotes and things like that, and we didn’t have the fanbase we have now, the younger generation.
“So between this and ‘El Plan’ and ’33’… I think also the drivers have guys taking care of the social media channels, so maybe they see a little bit more authentic way of doing things.”
Asked whether the rumours about an apparently unlikely relationship between himself and Swift were true, he laughed again and said: “I don’t comment.”
Hope for McLaren
McLaren have targeted the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as the start of their comeback after a difficult start to the season.
The team admitted before the championship started that they had missed a development avenue with their 2023 car and therefore would be starting the season behind where they had hoped to be.
They are introducing a major upgrade this weekend which is their first step on the development route opened up when they realised they had missed opportunities with the design of the floor edge.
Driver Lando Norris said: “I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Australia was a better weekend for us. (Before that in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia) we were unlucky and that made things look worse than they are.
“What we have now (on the car) is where we wanted to start the year. A lot of other teams have upgrades and our job is to try and bring slightly bigger things and play catch-up.
“This is the baseline we should have stared the year with. It is more room for improvement and it is going to take us a small step forward but with other people bringing upgrades it will be slightly smaller (than it would otherwise appear).”
