FIA urged to consider brand new F1 championship in major change to current rules

F1 commentator David Croft has suggested that the sprint race format should be removed from the F1 World Championship with the FIA urged to create a separate sprint championship in order to house the sprint shootout and race.

The sprint race format was introduced to the F1 community in 2021 with many fans already aware of the concept thanks to the feeder series categories, with both the Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships using the format at each race weekend.

Initially, points were only handed out to the top three drivers in the sprint race, which was used to set the grid for the race on Sunday, although the risk vs reward factor for drivers lower down the grid proved an unconvincing trade-off. 

Major changes have since been made to the format, which in 2023 consists of six sprint weekends, each of which has a sprint shootout, which is a shorter qualifying session, before a standalone sprint race later on the Saturday afternoon. 

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Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Croft explained: “I think the sprint concept is good. I like it, but I don’t like it being part of the World Championship. I like… I’d like two separate World Championships.

“Like cricket has T20 one day, and a test match and we’ll keep them separate. And have your sprint day on a Friday maybe, rather than a Saturday, and you could go into sprint qualifying and then the sprint with maybe a 20-minute warm-up in the morning. 

“That’s your Friday, and then the cars are not in parce-ferme for the rest of the weekend. Because you then have your practice session on a Saturday morning, Saturday qualifying, race on Sunday.

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“So you’re keeping the two very separate for different World Championships. And if the teams [and] if all the drivers don’t want to run in the sprint World Championships, fine, there’s enough reserve drivers that do. Maybe that’s a good way of getting reserve drivers involved in that. So commercially that’s kind of what I’d look at.”

Croft’s proposal has attracted some intense debate with fans still split on the introduction of sprint weekends altogether, as well as the way in which they are currently being implemented. 

Many see the sprint format as a distraction from Sunday’s race, diluting the importance of the Grand Prix, which historically has been the standout event from an F1 weekend, although the extra on-track action has also been well-received, particularly at the sprint races in Austria and Belgium this season.

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