An ambivalent trial - My thoughts on the first ever sprint-race

Oh how we missed a jam-packed Silverstone in 2020!

The home of British motorsport racing has once again produced a ‘must watch’ weekend of Formula 1 action, while featuring the ever first sprint-race weekend format.

Verstappen was able to jump Hamilton on the line at the beginning of the sprint-race, earning the 3-point reward and pole position for Sunday, but when looking at the bigger picture, what was the point?

If I am being completely honest, when the FIA, Formula 1 and the 10 teams came together to unanimously vote in favour of trialling the sprint weekend formats across three race weekends in 2021, I wasn’t exactly jumping out of my chair.

Don’t get me wrong, the idea of two races in one race weekend is very appealing to an average Formula 1 fan, and I don’t blame those who were excited at the prospect of the almost ‘pointless’ feature that may well be a glimpse at the future of an average race weekend.

But lets put a few things into perspective. Now that the first sprint-race weekend has come to a close at Silverstone, was it worth the hype?

There cant be many complaints from Formula 1 fans who were able to tune in on any of the three days to witness competitive racing and qualification processes.

The Friday afternoon session, which is usually filled by the second practice, was replaced by the normal qualifying session to build some excitement on what is usually a lacklustre day.

Race-day is obviously our favourite day of the race weekend, and while the sprint-race isn’t quite the same, it was still able to provide the exciting race starts, the first-lap drama, the spins and the crashes.

Witnessing the special start from Fernando Alonso, gaining six places on the first lap alone was a welcomed sight, as well as the drama caused by Sergio Perez spinning out early in the session, potentially ruining his chances at a podium on the Sunday.

The fans were given a glimpse of everything they were looking forward to in the race, before the actual race had even begun.

But after being caught up in all the hype, we need to focus on the bigger picture.

The sprint-race managed to diminish the stellar performances from the Friday qualifying session, which was able to separate the best from the rest.

Although the satisfaction of Verstappen stealing the pole position from Hamilton filled a void left in many of us on Friday, drivers from the lower teams weren’t able to maintain their positions and dropped back to where the were expected to start in the first place.

Lets focus on another one of the three Brits on the grid, George Russell.

Russell was able to storm his underperforming Williams car to a season-best eighth place in qualifying, warming the hearts of racing fans worldwide.

Before then unfortunately dropping to ninth in the sprint-race, being overtaken by veterans Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, drivers with much more experience and race-craft who were expected to qualify before the Brit in the first place.

It is almost as if the FIA and Formula 1 decided “lets make sure the fastest cars are at the front of the grid, and if they don’t make it, lets add a second qualification system to make sure they do”.

In an era where the reverse-grid format has been discussed, and often encouraged, the sprint-race weekend structure has provided the opposite effect of what racing fans have been screaming for.. MORE COMPETITIVE RACING.

For some, the usual qualification process can be the most exciting part of a race weekend, with unpredictable outcomes a high possibility, in which also sets up an interesting race.

It is clear that the format was introduced to engage younger audiences and those who don’t have the attention span to tune in to an hour and a half long race, but the way the sprint-race hinders the feature race on the Sunday, and diminishes the performances of the drivers on the Friday, tells me that it may not be worth the hype.