After an amazing race in Japan, F1 2024 is heading towards its fifth race of the season at Shanghai International Circuit for the first time since 2019.
In a post-race interview, the drivers who came in the top three were asked about the next race, the Chinese GP, and the new sprint races added before the main race.
The sprint race is shorter and happens on Saturday before the main race on Sunday, Some drivers are worried because the sprint races mean less time for practice.
The drivers warned F1 and the FIA that having sprint races at the Chinese GP is not a good choice. They expressed concerns that since the Chinese GP is returning after five years, they won’t have enough time to adjust their driving styles to the track or react to any issues with the track that might have arisen during the past five years.
Read more:Chines Grand Prix: 5 Factors That Can Affect Max Verstappen’s Run
According to drivers, holding a Sprint race is a good option to save time, but conducting it on tracks like Shanghai, which were disconnected from drivers and F1 for the past five years, is not a good idea.
Let’s delve deeper to understand what drivers exactly want from the Chinese GP rules. Why did drivers warn F1 and the FIA about their decision to conduct a sprint race in China?
Drivers Call for Track Analysis: Caution Against Chinese GP Sprint Race
After the race in Japan, a post-race interview was conducted where drivers who secured the pole Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Carlos Sainz asked about the addition of recent Sprint races starting from China and six other locations.
On which the Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz Jr warned the authorities that, Teams may set their cars too low and drivers could face disqualification for excessive plank wear due to lack of preparation time.
This occurred to Charles Leclerc, his teammate, and Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes at the United States Grand Prix last year.
“We expressed in the drivers’ briefing, directly to the FIA and Formula 1, that with these types of cars, going to a track with only one hour of practice followed by qualifying.
Considering the regulations imposed on us, such as plank wear, and how sensitive the car can be to even a single bump
We believe it’s not a wise decision to introduce a sprint race after a four or five-year absence,” stated Sainz.
“We also heard there’s been resurfacing going on, so Istanbul 2.0 may be on the cards,” Sainz added. “I hope not.”
“It just shows the uncertainty. Maybe for you guys at home, it’s exciting, but for engineers and drivers, it’s something that for me, in my opinion, we shouldn’t take the risk and have a normal weekend.”
Sainz said he wouldn’t mind having a sprint race at the Shanghai track if drivers had raced there more recently.
Still insane to me how 95% of F1 twitter hasn't seen a Chinese GP live (5 years ago) pic.twitter.com/yPaTBwV2MB
— kaz (@kazrrari) April 7, 2024
Sergio Perez pointed out the weekend would be badly affected if the single practice session was affected by a loose drain cover. Similar problems disrupted testing in Bahrain this year and practice for the Las Vegas Grand Prix last November.
“I just hope that there are no issues with the track, any drain holes, any issues like that,” said Perez. “That will just put us out of sync.
“For the show, probably it’s a good thing. But I think from the preparation side, it’s going to be going to be hard. I’ve never raced there, for example, with Red Bull so it’s going to be quite a lot to do in a single practice.”
The three-time world champion Max Verstappen who again stood on the pole in the Japanese GP said it was “not great” F1 has chosen to hold a sprint event on its return to China.
He replied, “When you’ve been away from a track for a while, you never know what to expect, right? So it would have been better to have a regular race weekend there.”
Also read:Chinese Grand Prix Start Time: When Will The Qualifying and F1 Races Begin?
” On the other hand, it might make things more exciting, and that’s maybe what they want to see. But just looking at it from a driving and performance standpoint, I don’t think it’s the best idea. We’ll see how it goes.”
” I’ve always enjoyed driving there, so hopefully, we can start well and not need to make too many adjustments to the car.”
Gaurang is a writer at the SportsOrbit covering articles related to F1,Gaurang was 14 when he cared more about playing football than studying. But when COVID hit and he had to stay home, he discovered Formula 1. It immediately caught his interest. Since then, he’s been really into Formula 1, watching every race and learning all about it. He still loves football, but now he’s also a big fan of Formula 1, especially Lewis Hamilton. Even though he loves racing, he still looks up to Cristiano Ronaldo as his idol.