28/12/2023
NEWS STORY
Zak Brown believes that mandatory pit stops would add a new dimension to the Sprints.
While the six venues at which Sprints will be held next season have been agreed, the precise format is still under consideration.
As F1 ponders the concept of a stand-alone championship the sport is also looking at ways in which to spice up the events which for the most part have been uninspiring.
With drivers unwilling to risk damaging their cars for the main event, many of the Sprints have been little more than 'rehearsals' for the Grand Prix that follows.
Various ideas are being considered including reversing the grid based on qualifying results and extending the number of positions which count for points.
McLaren boss, Zak Brown however believes that one idea that should be considered is the introduction of mandatory pit stops.
"I don't think they take away from the glamour of the Grand Prix but I do think we need to look at the format," he tells the Track Limits podcast.
"I think he'd say on the whole they haven't been quite as exciting as they can be," he says of Max Verstappen, who has made no secret of his dislike of the Sprint. "So whether that's reverse grids, whether that's mandatory pit stops, whether it's a super, super-soft tyre that goes off halfway through the race, I think we do need to do something to mix up the race."
The American believes that as opposed to the current 100 km Sprint - it's in the name - fans would enjoy a compulsory pit stop for fresh tyres around half distance.
"I think mandatory pit stops would be good," he insists. "And I think if we had super-soft tyres that deliberately went off halfway through and you then had to decide do you change? Do you not change?
"I think that would be a way to kind of condense it into a mini Grand Prix and make it because right now there's no strategy, you just sprint so I think that would be interesting."
Of course, this is just another means of manipulating the action, as if demanding tyres only set to last so many laps on Sunday afternoon wasn't enough.
Ignoring the green agenda that the sport is forever crowing about and the fact that this idea would require even more tyres to be transported around the world, if it didn't improve the Sprint what then... two mandatory stops, refuelling, pit at the end of every second lap or in alphabetical order?