Mercedes’ technical director, James Allison, delved into the intricacies of Formula 1’s new sprint format, highlighting its potential as a “double-edged sword.”
This innovative format introduces two parc fermé periods throughout the weekend, enabling teams to tweak their setups ahead of the main qualifying session.
The debut of the sprint format occurred at the Chinese Grand Prix, marking the commencement of six sprint weekends for the season. Returning to the Shanghai International Circuit after a five-year hiatus, Formula 1 witnessed the implementation of this new schedule.
Under these modifications, the entirety of the sprint event unfolds before the main qualifying session for the grand prix. Consequently, teams now have the opportunity to adjust their setups between Saturday morning’s sprint and the afternoon’s main qualifying session.
This three-hour window effectively grants teams a second chance to fine-tune their strategies for the grand prix.
Reflecting on Mercedes’ approach in light of these changes, Allison acknowledged the significant impact of the rule adjustment. “Actually, quite a big difference,” he remarked when queried about Mercedes’ adaptation during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.
“The sprint weekends normally fill the engineers with a degree of trepidation because there, in the past, has been just one frantic hour of getting everything ready and then you’ve sealed your fate for the weekend and you just have to watch that play out like clockwork, either good or bad, for the remaining sessions of sprint quali[fying], sprint race, qualifying, real race.”
Allison elaborated on the benefits of the revamped system, emphasizing Mercedes’ positive reception of the change.
“That is great because it gives you a chance to rescue yourself if you’ve made a mistake in the sprint part of the weekend. And so something that we were quite pleased with, quite happy to see go into the regulations,” he contended.
While his team couldn’t fully capitalize on the adjusted format, partly due to a mishap by Lewis Hamilton during qualifying, resulting in his elimination in Q1, one notable beneficiary emerged: Nico Hulkenberg.
The German driver managed to salvage his weekend by rectifying setup errors during the newly introduced window nestled between the two parc fermé periods. In doing so, he secured a point for Haas after a disappointing sprint, thus exemplifying the merit of the new structure.
“Unfortunately, it’s also a double-edged sword,” Allison added, pointing out that while teams can rectify mistakes during the three-hour slot, they also run the risk of making further setup errors.
“If you use that period wisely, great, you can then be better for the main race, the main event, than you were in the sprint race. But if you screw up in that second adjustment, then it can actually be worse for you in the main race.
“But I think overall, it’s a great change to the rules, allows more flexibility through the weekend and something we were looking forward to.”
With the upcoming Miami Grand Prix also adopting the sprint weekend format, there will be abundant opportunity to observe whether any team encounters challenges on the flip side of this double-edged sword.
