Bortoleto foresees ‘problem’ with one Sprint venue in 2026

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Formula 1’s audacious push to revamp its 2026 calendar with a sprint race at the razor-sharp Singapore Grand Prix has drawn a reaction from Sauber charger Gabriel Bortoleto.

The Brazilian, who graduated to F1 this season, has zeroed in on the Marina Bay Street Circuit’s addition to the sprint lineup – particularly the shift to a sweltering daytime showdown.

Like many of his young colleagues, Bortoleto welcomes the thrill of sprint weekends but argued that Singapore’s concrete jungle of barriers and brutal tropical heat will turn downright diabolical under the afternoon sun.

“They may have a problem,” Bortoleto reacted upon learning of a daylight dash around Marina Bay. “I’m not a rookie anyway next year, but definitely it’s a problem. Singapore in the daytime… not ideal.”

Rookie Challenge Under Sprints

Bortoleto admitted he feels fortunate to have entered F1 at a moment when sprint races are still relatively scarce, but warned that future newcomers will face a tougher learning curve.

“I’ve been lucky to get into F1 at this moment,” the 19-year-old explained. “There are some sprints, but not a lot of them yet. But for the future rookies, I think having sprints, only one free practice, it’s not going to be easy.”

With just a single practice session before qualifying on sprint weekends, rookies lose valuable time to adapt and fine-tune setups.

At a circuit as unforgiving as Singapore the already slim margin for error will shrink, even further – and especially for the lesser experienced drivers on the grid.

How Many Sprints Is Too Many?

Formula 1 is exploring the idea of doubling the number of sprint weekends to 12 per season, half the calendar. While Bortoleto is not opposed to an increase, he believes there should be a cap.

“I’m used to the current format,” he explained. “I believe that the current one is not bad. I like that you have FP1, FP2 and FP3 to develop, to test things in the car and to fine-tune things.

“That’s what I find fascinating about F1, how you can go into details and fine-tune things.”

“When you have a sprint weekend, it's always a short time, and you need to do things quickly, and sometimes you don't maximise things in time.”

That said, Bortoleto gets the buzz it brings to the bleachers.

“I believe it's nice for the entertainment of the fans and the weekend, you have more racing and more important sessions in this sense,” he said.

“But I'm not so sure I would go more than 12 at some point. I think that's already a hard limit.”

With Singapore set to break new ground as the first daytime sprint in Marina Bay’s history, F1 will be testing not just cars and drivers next year, but the boundaries of its own sprint revolution.