F1 reverse grid sprints back on table with ‘fake racing’ critics slammed

F1 Sprint medal.

Formula 1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali is happy to re-open discussions on reverse grid F1 Sprint races, hitting back at anyone who believes it interferes with the purity of the racing.

Formula 1 first trialled the use of sprint races back in 2021, with the 100km events continuing to feature on the calendar since, the F1 2024 schedule featuring six sprints.

F1 boss waves away ‘fake racing’ reverse grid sprint critics

The series made further revisions to the F1 Sprint race weekend format for 2024, with the mini-race now following the Sprint Shootout to determine its grid order, before the cars then come back out of parc ferme conditions to allow for alterations ahead of the standard qualifying and Grand Prix action.

While the F1 Sprint concept had proven polarising for Formula 1’s fanbase, Domenicali believes those days are over thanks to this latest race weekend format, teasing that it could be expanded to cover a third of the calendar.

“I remember when we introduced them we had a lot of criticism from the purists – who we need to always listen to, even to the ones who are not happy with it,” Domenicali told Motorsport.com.

“But I feel that now the thing has shifted completely the other way around. I think that the change we’ve introduced this year is the right one for many reasons – with separate qualifying and parc ferme. The flow is much better today.

“I think that we are not in a position to say that we’re going to be like MotoGP, for example, with a full race calendar situation of sprints. But there is margin to grow, maybe for one third of the calendar. That could be a possibility.”

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A polarising concept that was initially considered for sprint races in F1 was to use a reverse grid approach, which would in theory produce more action as the faster cars looked to rise up the order, though critics argued that this would make F1 racing too artificial.

Domenicali would like to discuss the option again though and insisted the “fake racing” argument does not stack up when “great action” on track is the outcome.

“And then, of course, there are certain topics that are always quite debatable,” Domenicali continued.

“We can really once again discuss if there is the need to reverse the grid, or half of the grid like what F2 and F3 are doing. So these are always things to keep the mind alive, if I may say, with the intent to keep something always interesting.

“Some people can say, ‘Oh, it is a fake way of racing.’ Fake? There is nothing fake related to what you believe is the right format to produce great action. So I would be interested to discuss that again. Yes.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has won all three F1 Sprint races to take place so far in 2024, those being held at the Chinese, Miami and Austrian GPs, while the United States, Brazilian and Qatar GPs to come will also use the F1 Sprint format.

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