Vasseur confirms rumour: new sprint race format already in Azerbaijan

According to Frederic Vasseur, the ball is in the court and there will be two qualifying sessions at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This will change the sprint race format compared to previous editions.

Formula 1 continues to test different ideas to make the sport more interesting for viewers. In the past two years, it has been testing the sprint race format. For instance, in recent years we already had six race weekends with a sprint on Saturday. However, the big problem was that there was hardly any fighting, as people were afraid of losing a place for Sunday's main race where the most points can be earned.

Sprint race format in Azerbaijan

Ahead of the first sprint race in Azerbaijan, F1 teams have agreed to a new idea of F1, according to Vasseur, reports Reuters. One practice session will be held on Friday before qualifying for Sunday's race. A second free practice session was normally held on Saturday, but Parc Fermé caused teams to make little or no use of this session. Therefore, a separate qualifying session will now be held here before the sprint race later on Saturday.

The new format has a number of advantages. First of all, the unnecessary second free practice session is gone and replaced by qualifying. In addition, the sprint race no longer affects the main race, allowing drivers to give everything in that race for the points to be earned. The disadvantage of having two races in one weekend does take away some of the importance of Sunday. There are now points to be earned earlier in the weekend.