F1 | Sprint changes: scenarios and risks of the latest revolution

On a technical level, the 2024 Formula 1 season does not reserve any major changes compared to the last championship, with the regulations remaining substantially unchanged, starting from the decision to approve the use of 4 Power Units throughout the world championship again this year.

However, on a sporting level there are several new features, including the early activation of the DRS and the change to the format of the weekends which include sprinting. Until last year, all the short events took place in a single day, with the Shootout on Saturday morning and the sprint in the afternoon, but the problem lay in the fact that qualifying for the Grand Prix on Friday did not guarantee linearity over the weekend .

The F1 Commission had in fact already discussed towards the end of 2023 to find a better rationalization of the format for the sprint, trying to divide the day dedicated to short sessions in a more orderly manner compared to the rest of the ordinary weekend. An agreement was only found in the last meeting at the beginning of the week, with which it was decided to reorganize the weekend.

Free practice 1 and the sprint shootout qualifying session will take place on Friday, but Saturday will change. In fact, on the morning of the second day of action on the track, the sprint race will take place, while on Saturday afternoon the drivers will return to the track for the qualifying of the 300 km Grand Prix, which remains as usual on Sunday.

In reality, other scenarios had also been taken into consideration, including one which envisaged FP1 on Friday followed immediately by the sprint with a grid decided on the basis of the reversed order of the top 10 in the championship standings, while the races would have been held on Saturday. FP2 followed by race qualifying. It is no mystery, in fact, that F1 has always looked with interest at the possibility of introducing the inverted grid, although the drivers and teams have always been rather cautious on this last topic.

Precisely on this trend, another proposal envisaged that at the end of the shootout the top 10 classified would be reversed on the starting grid of the race. However, to encourage drivers to work hard, rather than deliberately trying to finish lower in the top 10 and start further down the line, there was also talk of offering extra points in qualifying. Even in this case, however, there are problems that are difficult to ignore: how many points would have been awarded in the shootout, considering that those for the sprint are already reduced? The winner of the sprint gets only 8 points and guaranteeing a score even in qualifying would risk devaluing the short race.

However, among the reasons that pushed F1 to review the format there were also the changes to parc fermé. Last year, both teams and drivers complained about not being able to work on the cars, having to approve the setup after just one free practice session. If a team got the set-up wrong for the sprint, the rest of the weekend was consequently compromised, unless they decided to make some adjustments starting from the pit lane, as done in the United States by Aston Martin and Haas.

Few details of the new version emerged in Monday's F1 Commission statement, as they still need to be discussed and approved at the next meeting. The basic plan potentially includes two Parc Fermés: the first would cover the sprint events, while the second would go from qualifying to the race. Although the final details have not yet been confirmed, the pilots welcomed this change, speaking about it on the sidelines of the presentations.

McLaren MCL60 under a cover in the garage

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

The big difference to the previous format would be that teams would now have the ability to make changes to set-up and components between sprint and main qualifying, but exactly how this will work and what will be allowed has yet to be decided. Time is running out, because the first sprint is the Chinese Grand Prix, which will take place in April.

One of the concerns expressed by the teams is that, although they welcome the freedom to make changes, this will increase their workload on the mechanics, who are clearly forced to intervene more quickly during the breaks having a greater number of competitive sessions. Added to this is the additional work in the factory with the simulators to exploit the data collected in the sprint and find the best compromise up to the last possible second.

Even for FIA officials, Parc Fermé on Friday represents a problem, given that the stewards have to check the cars for two days and not just from Saturday afternoon, as happens on a normal weekend without the sprint.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60, Nico Hulkenberg, Haas VF-23, Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR23, the rest of the grid at the start of the Sprint

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Another problem with the new format is the obvious risk that a serious accident in the sprint could compromise a driver's chances of participating in the following qualifying session. Thinking, for example, of what happened to Pierre Gasly in Monza in 2021 or to Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon last year in Qatar, there would be little time available to intervene in the event of serious accidents.

From this point of view, there should be an opening on the part of the FIA ​​and F1 to allow the teams to have reserve chassis ready to use on these occasions. Currently, in fact, this is not possible: the teams are allowed to have a reserve chassis, but with few pieces mounted before a certain time, under penalty of starting from the pit lane as happened to Logan Sargeant in Suzuka.

Formula 1 still has time to reach an agreement on the final details, as happened last year, with the approval of the Shootout qualification only a few days before the stage in Azerbaijan. It cannot be ruled out that a small note could also be added to the regulation to guarantee greater freedom of action on this issue on an extraordinary basis.