Sprint Qualifying – Uncovered -Will it fill the Stands

Sprint Qualifying what is it?

For the newbies. Generally, the race weekend has a press conference on Thursday, Free Practice 1 on Friday, and Qualifying 1,2, and 3 on Saturday for starting order for Race on Sunday. Q1, Q2 eliminates the bottom five and the cars, and Q3 qualifiers should start on the tire in which the Fastest time was set in Q2. Q3 is basically where the lightest fuel load cars go head-on for starting positions in the top 10.

Sprint Qualifying, is a format in which after the Quali there is a 100 Km race (1/3 race distance) for the grid positions and some points will be awarded for the top finishers. So the weekend will be more or like Thursday Press Conference. Friday FP1, Q1, Q2, and Q3, Saturday FP2 and 30 Sprint Race followed by a full Grandprix on Sunday.

Why do you need Sprint Qualifying?

Liberty Media the revenue owner of Formula One is losing viewership and revenue though they say that they are not. Read more about it here. So it needs to cash in and also make the race exciting again. The introduction of the Sprint Qualifying is expected to bring in at least more crowd to the stands thus generating more revenue.

They are trail running Sprint Qualifying for at least 3 weekends in 2021. Monza, Silverstone, and Brazil will be the contenders as the reports suggest. There will be no reverse grids in F1 as a welcome relief in which the winners start at the back to make the racing more exciting on Sunday.

What do the teams think?

Teams are skeptical about it. Many in the paddock believe that it will be a huge cost associated with running a race however small and short it is. In the meeting after Bahrain GP, an amicable solution has been reached regarding the budgeting for this extended format.

Toto, Zack, and Horner are on board with trying the format, but they have also been very vocal about this is a testing phase and are willing to give it a go since the rights owner Liberty Media is very keen on it. Hamilton rubbished this claim long ago. Read here for more

What do fans think?

It’s too early to tell. I am more concerned about driver fatigues and spoilsport for strategies in F1. It might make it exciting or maybe a static Sprint Race followed by a Static race on Sunday. A poll is on in the communities following is the result