Sprint in China: Verstappen grumbles, specter of Istanbul 2.0 for Sainz

We return to Shanghai

The next two races on the 2024 F1 championship calendar – China and Miami – both feature the format Sprint, a format that follows in content what was already staged in the last season, with a different positioning of the sessions over the weekend and also some important news relating to the Parc Fermé. After just one free practice session on Friday there will be the Qualifying Shootout to define the starting grid for the Sprint. Sprint will open the program on Saturday and then leave room for Qualifying for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Parc Fermé, instead of starting after the free practice session, will be open until before Qualifying.

The Sprint will become a real 'experiment' in view of the GP given that it will then be possible to intervene on the cars and there could be many surprises on Saturday morning given that there has not been a race in China since 2019. In the press conference Max Verstappen he underlined that it is not ideal not to be able to 'have' a normal race weekend with all the unknowns that are on the table: “It was really smart to put a Sprint in China – he joked, snorting – when you haven't raced on a track for several years it's not the best to have just one free practice session, but on the other hand this could bring some surprises and most likely that's what the championship organizers want. From a strictly driving point of view, the Sprint format in China isn't a good thing, but we'll see how it goes, I've always enjoyed racing on that track and hopefully we won't have to work too hard to set the car up in the right way.”

This generation of ground effect cars has never raced in China, Perez added that he has never raced in Shanghai as a Red Bull driver and therefore it will truly be a 'dark' weekend for Checo. Furthermore, the route was also resurfaced Carlos Sainz we have not forgotten what happened in Turkey in 2020 when F1 returned to a newly resurfaced Istanbul Park which, thanks to the rain, was transformed into an ice skating rink or a soapy football pitch: “I hope I don't experience an Istanbul 2.0 – Sainz's words – For those watching the race on TV it will be a fun weekend, but the drivers and engineers would never have wanted him to run the risk of taking part in a Sprint weekend in China.”