Do we really need DRS? ... and other Imola F1 talking points

I'm fairly certain "overwhelming success" isn't determined by a survey of the fan's enjoyment of the sprint but by viewer numbers being higher compared to regular qualifying

The entire season will be me gleefully cheering on Bottas and Magnussen. Those two are so exciting to watch. Alonso too, but his car is failing him.

The sprint has one massive problem. Quali, something most fans really want to see, is on Friday afternoon. You know what most people are doing Friday afternoon? Working.

The main problem I have with sprint races is that they dilute the excitement of the actual race. I'm going to be less excited for a GP if I've seen a race on the same circuit the day before. With the massive number of races this year, being a dedicated fan is exhausting.

I'm happy for Valtteri. The dude seemed just miserable at Merc. Being the head of a midfield team (not to mention Alfa Romeo's concept seems to have a thing or two going for it) is doing wonders for his confidence and he seems to having a much better time in the sport now

I personally love the longer warm up times on outlaps with new tires. Really helps mix things up and reminds me of some of the action in F2 without tire blankets.

So, while I'll almost never complain about more racing, I have 2 concerns with the sprint races. First, it currently lacks a reason to exist, as it's effectively Q4. Second, it makes no sense in an F1 world that's trying to shrink budgets. More racing means more wear and tear on more parts, so more replacements. While I don't have an answer for the latter, I do have an idea for the former. Fundamentally, F1 could just embrace the sprint race as a fun bit of extra racing. Leave quali on Friday, and have that set the Sunday grid. For the sprint race, run a reverse grid based on the prior race's result (or championship standings?) and run half distance for half points. Dunno, as I'm just a fan, but it's something to try to give sprint races an identity.

In most cases, I could take or leave the sprint races. But this weekend, I actually hated it. I was excited to see K-Mag up in the second row(!) with Fernando right behind him and how that might work out during the race, but that was all erased by the sprint. Not to mention Zhou's crash that kept him from having a chance to compete for any points (not saying he definitely would have scored points, but if he's in the same car as Bottas he has a shot).

What I like about the sprint weekends is that there's less practice. One hour to prepare, and a dive straight into quali. But the sprint itself? I don't think it's necessary. It's good that F1 tried out the format, but I think they have to accept that it's not what the sport needs and abandon it.

I'm not a fan of sprints. They can be fine and bring some more laps of excitement, but more laps also minimises the consequences mistakes in qualifying. Like what Sainz and Perez did this weekend, and perhaps more obviously what Hamilton did in Brazil. So sprints probably make unlikely race results and rogue podiums and such more unlikely.

Personally I would separate the sprint results from the grand prix starting grid. So whatever happens during the sprint, the starting grid for Sundays race is unchanged and se t by quali as normal. Then the sprint grid could either be from championship order (maybe reversed) or some other method such as taking the Q1 results or ordering them by number of P1s, P2s P3s etc.

Sprint format is a 400 km race with a 22 hour red flag in the middle. And from this year, with partial points given after the first stint. This is what it all boils down to. Yes the sprint was fun this weekend, but as a result the race was boooooring. The finishing order of the sprint should not dictate the start order of the GP, and then it would be really good. This way its a hard no from me.

I feel so so so so so happy for Valterri. It's like he's earned a chance to just be happy. He's so good and he deserves a team around him that appreciates that. :)

Valterri overtaking downhill in the wet on Rivazza 1 was the highlight of the race! Incredibly daring and skillful!

I'm still kind of trying to keep my mind open about the sprints, but I am more leaning towards not quite liking them. For me, quali is the excitement, the thing that I look forward to on Saturday. The sprint just feels too short and the lack of strategy the drivers being mostly quite tame is just not it for me. I also, perhaps unpopularly, didn't like the sprint in Brazil. I would have loved to see Lewis charge through the field over race distance and see just how far up he can get, rather than having the chance to make some places on Saturday and finish the job on Sunday. It was still a great achievement, no doubt, but it made it kind of 'meh' to me.

I actually really enjoy sprints. Having one every so often is just good fun and being that these are the top drivers in the world and we expect them to change to the dynamics of the GP (weather, track position, tire condition, etc) expecting them to adapt to a weekend with minimal and a sprint is not to much to ask.

do what F2 and F3 do: reverse the top of the grid for the Sprint. right now we have still the same issue as last year: the Grand Prix is 25% longer, starts on Saturday, gets red-flagged for 23 hours, and then continues on Sunday with a standing start. Except now there are more points for it, so the rich get richer.

To echo a point I read elsewhere, my new issue with the Sprints is that it makes some weekends MORE valuable than others. Max got 34 points (SprintWin+RaceWin+FLap) for this weekend compared to the previous 3 where the most that was available to any one driver was 25 (win+FLap) it means that bad or good weekends can have more dramatic swings on these weekends...

Man, you're able to synthesize what I was thinking all along in such an eloquent manner, I love these post race analysis videos! Love the sassy "can't wait!" at the end as well haha.

I would argue that one advantage of the sprint is that it makes three days of the weekend Importamt, thereby allowing for a higher chance of mixed weather conditions which, in my opinion, generally produce more interesting sessions