According to Flavio Briatore, Formula 1 should adopt the Sprint format at all championship stages. The Alpine executive consultant argued that the format should be adopted in all 24 GPs on the calendar to offer more action to the public from Friday onwards.
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The proposal would significantly expand the current model, which provides for only six weekends with Sprint races per season. According to Briatore, the Friday schedule offers little entertainment to fans, as free practice sessions are mainly dedicated to the teams’ technical work.
In an interview with The Race, the executive stated that the category needs to offer more content for those who follow the events at the circuits: “I believe we need Sprint races. If it were up to me, it would be at all GPs, because we need to give something extra to the spectator. We do nothing for the spectator, because Friday morning is just technical. You do two laps, return to the pits, and people are not there,” he said.
Briatore also argued that the Sprint format adds a competitive contest to the weekend, instead of keeping drivers focused only on data collection for the teams: “After the qualifying session on Saturday, it’s over, the GP comes on Sunday. With the Sprint, at least you have two races, two starts, and the driver is driving for something. He is not just driving for engineering. For me, there should be 24 GPs and 24 Sprint races,” he added.
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Formula 1 introduced the Sprint format experimentally in 2021, initially in three stages, including the São Paulo GP. Since then, the format has undergone several changes until reaching the current model, in which the Sprint race is an independent event, awarding points to the top eight finishers and is part of six weekends on the calendar.
This statement from Briatore comes just days after Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali defended the 2026 rules and reinforced the category’s strategy to prioritize spectacle for a broader audience. According to him, most fans are more interested in the quality of on-track battles than in the technical details of the cars, citing as an example Max Verstappen’s overtake on Lewis Hamilton at turn 1 in the Hungarian GP.
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