Just cannot see the point of these Sprint weekends. Qualifying on Friday, Sprint Shootout and Sprint on Saturday, real race on Sunday. What's the point? And in the US ESPN put the Sprint race on one of their 'pay extra' channels so I didn't even see it. Had to watch the 8 minute highlight video on F1.com after the fact.
It should be included in the TV weekend package without there being extra charges for the sprint race. There's always the option not to watch the sprint, as the way it's formatted at the moment is as a completely stand-alone mini-race.
The problem with an F1 race in the US, at noon, on a Saturday, in October, means you run into the weekly college football games which are 10,000 times more popular than an F1 Sprint race in the Middle East. So we get the Sprint Shootout at 8am CT, and we will get the main race on Sunday, but there is limited room, and no desire, to air a race on Saturday afternoon. Just an unfortunate time for the US market.
Unfortunately, they have it the wrong way around, it should be a continuum: that Friday qualifying influences what happens on Saturday sprint, and then the Saturday sprint impacts the Grand Prix on Sunday. The original format was a bit better but flawed, this format is arse-about face.
On the whole, I think the sprint race has been a great success, and what happens in the sprint can often impact the Grand Prix in terms of strategy, countermeasures, tyre strategy, etc etc.
It should be included in the TV weekend package without there being extra charges for the sprint race. There's always the option not to watch the sprint, as the way it's formatted at the moment is as a completely stand-alone mini-race.
I should cancel my order for Pirelli winter tyres purely for spite. If they allowed more testing this wouldn’t be an issue.
I’ve never used winter tyres but their current generation P-Zeros are a bit rubbish compared to Michelin’s PS4S. In the dry they were similar with a slight edge to the Michelins but in the wet, the Pirelli’s were very untrustworthy while the Michelins grip beautifully. Given how much rain we get in Queensland Australia that mixed wet / dry performance made a big difference.
The problem they had with the sprint influencing the GP was that it didn't incentivise overtaking or risk taking. So you end up with a procession for 19 laps so you don’t bugger up your staring position on Sunday.
it’s hard to think how they could do it to avoid that, so maybe the mini race format they have right now is the better option.
Me, I’d rather stick to straight qualifying on Saturday/ race on Sunday. I think even the drivers are similar - certainly if you hear some of Lewis’ interviews where it’s ‘only the sprint’ would probably suggest similar.
The other issue they have is timings. I couldn’t watch the qualifying on Friday as was at work, which I am sure was an issue for many others. Maybe quail/ sprint on Saturday and race on Sunday would make better for many but not sure how logistically challenging that would be.
My only choices for a performance winter in my size were Pirelli, Pirelli, and Vredestein. Went with the newest Pirelli mainly because they should be easier to get if I need to buy one in the middle of nowhere. My one experience with the P-Zeros were that they needed a lot of heat to work well. Not good where it rains 160 days out of the year. Michelins are much better.
Now he throws George under the bus.
Yes the sprint was problematic in the beginning, together with teething problems etc, but that's easy to resolve by making some more points available for the sprint, and having a similar points ratio to the Grand Prix itself.
