F1
The Race within the Race
For 2024, spectators in Miami get an extra thrill—the season’s second sprint weekend. But what does that mean for teams, tires and strategy? True to form, the Bulletin has quizzical fans covered.
At times, the Miami Grand Prix— awash with A-Listers, gourmet food trucks, stadium-quality concerts and enough beverage choices to float a yacht—is a glittering social experience during which a motor race occasionally breaks out. For 2024, the legit competition is being dialed up with the addition of a sprint race.
What does that mean? Well, it shoehorns more racing into the weekend—and introduces greater risks and less preparation for the teams. This is F1 turned up to 11.
The sprint format nixes fusty old practice sessions to provide at least one meaningful track session on each of the event’s three days. On regular race weekends the format features two free practice sessions (FP1 and FP2) on Friday; one more free practice (FP3) on Saturday, followed by qualifying; and then the grand prix on Sunday.
Sprint weekends pitch the teams into competitive action earlier. There’s just one practice session on Friday, followed by sprint qualifying. Saturday begins with the sprint, followed by race qualifying—and the race, as nearly always, takes place on Sunday.
Max Versatppen has been a critic of sprint races, but still finds success.
© GETTY IMAGES
01
THE FORMAT
Sprint races are approximately 100 km (one-third of the grand prix distance, which here in Miami means 19 laps). Points are scored down to eighth place, with eight points for the winner and one point for the driver finishing eighth (you can figure out the math from there). Sprint results have no bearing on the grand prix (unless someone picks up a penalty or crashes their car in the morning) and has a grid set by a standalone qualification.
This is a cut-down version of conventional qualifying, with sessions of 12, 10 and eight minutes. The slowest five drivers are eliminated at the end of SQ1 and SQ2, leaving 10 to contest the top-10 grid slots. And because F1 is a sport that prizes excessive regulatory complication,
it has tire rules that differ from conventional qualifying. In sprint qualification, a driver must use one set of medium tires in SQ1, another in SQ2, and one set of softs in SQ3.
Teams also have fewer sets of tires on a sprint weekend than at a normal event. This, and the reduced number of practice sessions, is intended to keep teams off-balance. Rather than run every tire in practice, they can (likely) use just one compound. And instead of having 26 hours of analysis and simulations before a qualification session, they have only three. And instead of being able to field a car in practice that’s packed full of extra sensors, infrared cameras and telemetry gear, teams must hit the ground with the race car at its fighting weight.
All in all, sprint preparation rewards a team with a slick trackside operation that can think on its feet—but it adds an extra element of drama because someone is always caught out.
Verstappen wins the final sprint of 2023 in Brazil.
© GETTY IMAGES
02
THE STRATEGY
Sprints have been around long enough for a consensus to form around the best way to approach them. Unless conditions are extreme, there will be no pit stops. They’re allowed, but it’s impossible to make up the lost time in such a short race. Instead, sprint strategy often boils down to each team’s choice of starting tire, usually the medium or soft tires. The medium is the fastest way to the flag; the soft has better grip off the start line and performance over the first few laps. It sets up a battle between drivers intent on pure race pace and those who gamble on getting a good start and being able to defend their position as their soft tires degrade.
03
THE MYSTERY ELEMENT
Sprints aren’t universally beloved by the drivers and teams, with the format’s most quotable critic being one Max Verstappen. The Dutchman’s major gripe has been that locking cars into race spec after FP1, and then running a 100 km racing stint in the sprint, means everyone goes into the grand prix on Sunday with far fewer lingering puzzles to solve with regard to the race.
Some of Verstappen’s concerns may have been allayed by a tweak to the format for 2024. With sprint qualification and the sprint race itself now taking place before grand prix qualifying, there’s suddenly a window in which regulations that typically prevent teams from making major adjustments are lifted—meaning teams have a new window to adjust their setup. It isn’t quite a voyage into the unknown, but it’s not the same old story either.
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