Ahead of the first Sprint of the season, Haas boss, Guenther Steiner believes that in time half the races on the calendar will feature the 'mini races'.

A week ahead of the Baku weekend, the sport has yet to officially announce a revised format which will likely see Saturday given over entirely to Sprints, with qualifying in the morning and the race later in the day.

Friday would see one practice session in the morning, while the afternoon session would be given over for qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix.

As can be seen with the ongoing predilection for restarts, F1 realises that the start of races, along with qualifying, are the two main highlights of the weekend, consequently, what better way of attracting the fans and sponsors than doubling the number of both.

With MotoGP having introduced Sprints at every round, Steiner believes that increasing the number of Sprint events in F1 from the current six is the way forward.

"I don't know if we will do it every race weekend," he told Reuters. "Maybe do a few more or maybe do half of the calendar. The F1 promoter will know what to do.

"At the moment there is more demand for races (than slots available) so how can you get more races in, more competition, more racing if we cannot do more than 24 events... just make the event double count."

However, the Haas boss admits that at some tracks there will be a need for more than the one practice session that will be available in Baku.

"The FP3 session on Saturday morning became almost worthless because nobody was watching it, the teams couldn't do any changes on the car except trying the tyre out for the race so there was no real interest," he said. "So I think that is a good addition to the weekend to put a sprint qualifying in.

"You have to see how it works with the fans, if they like it, how the numbers come back and then decide what to do as the next step. But at the moment I support very much the sprint qualifying."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 26/04/2023 0:29

"@Defiant...Glad you got a chuckle or two, life is devoid of levity these days and being labelled a contrarian is least of my worries. In fact I rather like that designation. Life's lessons have taught me that [a ] very little is as it seems, and [ b ] there is invariably more than one opinion after viewing the facts through different filters. That being the case sometimes the obvious is hard to see, let alone verify. The herd instinct is, to me, the easy way out. A reason to avoid 'critical thinking', something that has become a lost art in so many areas. Mainly the Uni's are to blame for this aberration. This can only get worse once the art of AI is finessed!! Roll on Baku and some spirited racing. Four weeks is too long at this time of the year,"

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2. Posted by Defiant, 25/04/2023 16:35

"Maybe I shouldn't laugh but this did tickle me a bit. I wouldn't describe you as a ghoul kenji, but a contrarian does seem to fit the bill. Sorry but it does come across that way quite often.

I'm not going to go over my disdain for sprints again as I've answered why multiple times on this forum.

I do suppose that if we all agreed on everything, the world would be an extremely boring place to be. Maybe that's why you were tagged with the troll moniker, people were assuming you were disagreeing for your own amusement.

"

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3. Posted by kenji, 22/04/2023 14:43

"Of late...first up, accused of being a troll, second up, accused of being a ghoul and now a contrarian!! Dear oh dear what next ? It seems as though well intentioned reasonable debate and frank exchanges devoid of 'ad hominem' attacks is slowly but surely being eroded.C'est la vie'. I have apparently disrupted the wave of sympathetic comments by supporting the sprint races as being a great alternative to the two normal boring FP sessions. In a lifetime of GP/ F1 following I have seen more changes than most people, witnessing along the way many many changes to the format etc etc etc. I seriously do not support the Hollywoodisation of F1 but I do support more actual racing. But that's just me and everyone has a different take on it, which I respect. At the same time I am intersted in knowing just why ....to know what it is that those followers dislike about a sprint race ? Maybe at times I appear cynical but that is just par for the course as Tiger would say, there is no malice in my comments. "

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4. Posted by Editor, 22/04/2023 8:54

"@ KKK,

A good many of us on here do not like the Sprints, do not, under any circumstances, feel you need to justify why you feel like you do, especially to a known contrarian."

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5. Posted by kenji, 22/04/2023 7:43

"@KKK....That's no soap box just a set of treaded 3 step Baileys. Seriously though...the Sunday race is still the Sunday race and that is what I have been watching since time immemorial. Yes, there have been changes. F1 is a dynamic event and always subject to changes including those from the owners. There are many things that I don't agree with and i have been extremely vocal about those in the past, especially tyres/theatrical grid frolic/dancing girls et al. but as of today the Sprints are [ for me ] a bonus race, albeit lasting only 40 mins approx but I'll still take that any day rather than 1 FP session that is meaningless to most fans. So I presume that next Saturday when the sprint happens that you'll simply turn off the broadcast and take 45 min of exercise in the fresh air before returning to the status quo? Enjoy the Baku GP...I will. "

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6. Posted by Defiant, 21/04/2023 23:55

"That's not a bad idea Burton.

If theyre so desperate to have extra races why not allow reserve drivers race for a side championship and team points only."

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7. Posted by Burton, 21/04/2023 20:55

"Maybe if it was done with spare cars and the reserve drivers..."

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8. Posted by KKK, 21/04/2023 19:44

"@kenji would you please get off your soap box mate! The way F1 is running these days is just wrong. Tyres that are fixed so they won't last,venue's that are no better than a Tesco car park. Itsnot RACING any more. Keep your F1. It's cr*p"

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9. Posted by elsiebc, 21/04/2023 17:25

"At least as a standalone event with now no affect on the starting order for the real race it's a move in the right direction. But it does just give the team in the front more opportunities to outscore the challengers thereby wrapping up the season sooner and maybe letting the guys skip the last couple races, stay home, and play video games."

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10. Posted by kenji, 21/04/2023 15:57

"@KKK...Interesting but you still didn't answer the question I put to you? If you didn't know about or watch the sprint what would've changed on Sunday? I'm still curious."

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11. Posted by KKK, 21/04/2023 15:49

"@kenji hate to tell you but back in the 70's 80's and 90's there wasnt as much "social medis" and F1 thrived. so F1 doesnt need Liberty Media's wonderful new ideas to spice up the "show". Now I read that Pirelli are forced to produce tyres that just wont last, just for the "show". Its a RACE for God's sake...not a trumped up Wrestling match were every move was rehe****d, just for the ""."

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12. Posted by Endre, 21/04/2023 14:57

"Besides the many issues previously discussed on this website, how ill this contribute to the "leveled playing field" the FIA is going after? Certain tracks will always favor certain teams or drivers, so sprints should be either introduced or scrapped for all tracks."

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13. Posted by kenji, 21/04/2023 13:00

"@ KKK...I'm intrigued. If you were isolated from the media and only ever got to watch the F1 GP on a sunday, oblivious to the preceding days what would be obvious to you that something has changed ?"

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14. Posted by KKK, 21/04/2023 10:49

"I for one will not even watch the Sprints. It goes totally against what F1 is about. As an F1 fan since the 70's Liberty Media is just ruining it and turning F1 in a Circus....what next ?"

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Steiner predicts half of races to feature Sprints

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