Flavio Briatore defended a radical change in the Formula 1 format, with Sprint races held at all calendar events. The proposal would increase the number of races during the season and significantly change the structure of the weekends in the category.
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Since the format’s debut in 2021, F1 has adopted a gradual expansion. There were three events in the first year, the same number maintained in 2022, before the amount rose to six starting in 2023, while the weekend model also underwent different changes.
Speaking to The Race, Briatore argued that the traditional format on GP weekends offers little entertainment to spectators on Fridays. For the Italian, much of the work done that day is focused on technical preparation, with drivers doing few laps before returning to the pits in the two free practice sessions.
“I believe we need to do Sprint races. If it were up to me, at every GP, because we need to give something more to the spectator,” Briatore said. According to him, drivers should be competing for something beyond engineering activities, and a Sprint race would create a second contest within the same weekend.
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“With the Sprint race, at least you have two races, two starts, and the drivers are racing for something. They are not just driving for engineering. For me, 24 GPs, 24 Sprint races,” Briatore concluded.
The idea of holding Sprint races at all 24 events still appears as an ambitious expansion, but the category is already working to increase the presence of the format. The F1 CEO confirmed that there are plans to increase the number of events, with an announcement expected alongside the release of the next calendar, while information from Sky Sports points to the possibility of nine or ten Sprints in the future.
In this scenario, a season with 24 GPs and up to ten Sprint races could represent 34 races. The expansion, however, also raises the question about the impact of an even more packed calendar for drivers and teams.
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