Amid calls for changes to Formula 1’s sprint format, Sergio Perez agrees that tweaks are clearly necessary and the Red Bull driver believes that reverse grids should be considered.
Saturday’s 34-lap mad dash at Interlagos was the sixth and final sprint event of the 2023 season, and overall, it’s been a mixed bag for the compressed format.
Trialed for the first time at Silverstone in 2021, the concept tried to find its footing on last year’s calendar before F1 introduced a few changes for this season, such as giving the sprint event its own standalone status rather than having its result determine the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix proper.
In Brazil this weekend, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff confirmed that talks are now underway between F1 and the teams to see how the format can be improved, perhaps by rejuggling the order of the sessions and having the sprint take place on Saturday mid-day and returning qualifying to its traditional afternoon slot.
"I think if they want to keep this format of the sprint races, we've got to change it," argued Perez who finished Saturday’s race in third position.
"I would propose a reverse grid, something that can make it more interesting for the fans because I don't think it's doing what we want to achieve.
"Nothing really happens in this sort of race. I think [a reversed grid] will mix up things and create more opportunities, a lot more overtaking.
"If we want to keep this format, [we should] give it a go on something quite different, because I think for the last two years this sort of event hasn't brought a lot of good racing."
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While there was no intrigue at the front of the field in Saturday’s race, there were a few raging battles in the midfield, but the running order quickly stabilized as the mandated soft tyre degraded.
It has been suggested that a more durable tyre would allow drivers to push from start to finish and therefore improve the spectacle on the track.
But McLaren’s Lando Norris argues that if everyone had tyres that could be pushed to the end, there would actually be less action happening up and down the field.
“You still push to the limit you have; of course, you're not pushing like it's qualifying, but I don't think we ever have in F1," commented Norris.
"But you still saw good racing, apparently, from everyone behind. If everyone is pushing flat out, I would say you almost probably see less overtakes than what you would today. In that sense, you're probably asking for a more boring race, which is not what you want.
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"I think what we had today is tough, and maybe not the most enjoyable; you don't feel like you're pushing that much, but you're still driving on the limit of the grip you've got and all of those things.
"It's still a challenge for us behind the wheel, I think it's exciting for the people who get it right and people who don't get it right. But if you've got no degradation at all, then I'd probably say you're not going to have one overtake for the whole race."
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