Vettel: F1 'wrong' to name sprint race winner poleman

Sebastian Vettel disagrees with Formula 1's decision to award the official title of poleman to the winner of Saturday's Sprint Qualifying race.

This weekend's British Grand Prix format will shake up the usual schedule, with a sprint race held on Saturday afternoon that will determine the grid order for Sunday's big event.

But the grid for Saturday's 30-minute mad dash will be set by a normal qualifying session held on Friday afternoon. Yet, the winner of Sprint Qualifying will be recorded in F1's statistics as the official poleman for the British Grand Prix.

• Read also: F1 won't 'force through' sprint races if unsuccessful - Brawn

"I think that’s wrong," said Vettel on Thursday at Silverstone. "Pole is the fastest lap time achieved or the fastest lap time in qualifying. So it gets all a bit confusing.

"But obviously it depends. If this is a one-off, then it doesn't do much harm.

"But, if we end up having 10 sprint races next year or in the future, then I think it's just a bit weird. So, pole position should go to the guy who goes fastest in one lap.

"It's a new discipline, so they didn't have it 50 years ago, and now we have it. Then we just add a new column to the statistics."

F1 chief Ross Brawn has said that F1 won't force through Sprint Qualifying after its three trials this season if the fans aren't onboard with the concept.

Vettel recently expressed a bit of skepticism towards F1's innovative format, but the Aston Martin charger is nevertheless keeping an open mind.

"It will be interesting to see if people will like it or not," he said.

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