Carlos Sainz offers short-term F1 sprint race fix to avoid grand prix spoilers

Carlos Sainz has offered a short-term solution to improving sprint races after arguing that the current format ca ruin the surprise of the grand prix on Sunday.

The Spanish driver claimed that the current sprint race format, which consists of sprint qualifying after practice 1 on Friday, the sprint race and grand prix qualifying on Saturday, followed by the race on Sunday, spoils what the first stint of the grand prix could include for fans.

As a short-term option to make the sprint races more exciting, the Williams driver suggested allowing drivers only the choice of soft tyres, which would lead to more pitstops.

“For me, it’s more the format change that I think is required for the sprint, and I think Stefano [Domenicali] is open to do that,” Sainz explained ahead of the United States Grand Prix, which will also host a sprint race. “For me right now, the sprint, I’m not a big fan because it unveils what the first stint of Sunday is gonna be like, because qualifying is the same format almost, and Sunday is almost the first stint of maybe a bit lighter car, but still the same set of tyres. So yeah, I would rather have different ideas around the sprint so it doesn’t reveal so much the race pace and the results of something.”

When asked what the solution for this could be, he added: “One simple idea could be to make sure everyone does the sprint race on soft tyres, which is a high-deg tyre. Normally, there are very little tracks we choose the soft tyre for the first stint of the race. That could be a very easy short-term solution, also because we are throwing five sets of tyres in the bin – soft tyres – always every week, and then we put one lap on them and then we give them back and they go, I don’t know where stores them, but definitely for us it’s only a one-lap tyre at many, many tracks.

“So that could be an easy fix, not enough probably. I think it requires something else, something maybe a bit more spicy, which I think when it comes to getting the sprint race a bit more spicy, it should be a good opportunity to maybe experiment with different formats and be open-minded.

“If it works, great. If it doesn’t, change it again like we did in the past.”

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Reverse grids have been discussed as a potential option to introduce a more exciting sprint race format to the calendar. “It’s on our agenda,” Domenicali explained about reverse grids in September. “We’ve discussed it before, but in the coming months we’ll need the courage to push the discussion again because I’ve heard several drivers propose it. At first everyone was against it, but at the last meeting many of them said, ‘Why don’t we try?’”

Quizzed on the potential introduction of reverse grids, Sainz responded: “I’m not a big fan of reverse grids, but I wouldn’t be completely opposed to trying something different in this case. I also think sprint quali could be different, maybe with a bit of a super pole in SQ3.

“Just keep adding something different to the weekend, keep trying different things maybe. And as I said, not be too critical about it. If it works, great, and it’s better for the format. If it doesn’t, don’t be scared to say that it didn’t, acknowledge it didn’t work, and try something different.”