Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Petit Le Mans had an underwhelming conclusion. Driving standards were still spotty. MotoGP made history in multiple ways in Indonesia, and the riders are working on a union. There was October rookie orientation from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A disqualification has set a driver back in the NASCAR world. The Las Vegas race had a good finish without any race control intervention. Formula One drivers are flocking to the United States, and that brings up something I heard earlier this year.
Separating the Sprint
For the first time, the United States Grand Prix from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas will be a sprint weekend. Two weeks ago, at the most recent sprint weekend held in Qatar, history was made. For the first time ever, the World Drivers' Championship was clinched in the sprint race as Max Verstappen's runner-up result on Saturday from Losail sealed the championship before we even got to the grand prix.
It was a peculiar feeling knowing the championship was already decided before we even got to Sunday even though it was still up for grabs on Friday. It was somewhat of an extra anti-climatic finish to what was already an obvious conclusion to this season. We all knew Verstappen was going to take this title. Claiming it during a Saturday sprint race felt flat.
This is our third season with sprint races, a feature of a race weekend that still quite hasn't found its place in Formula One. The sprint races are rarely better or different than the grand prix we will see on Sunday. They are more prologues for what will be more to come. Sprint weekends are disruptive in a bad way.
Previously, there was that uncertainty over why the sprint race would set the grand prix grid but qualifying set the sprint race lineup and then questioning where grid penalties should be enforced. This season, Formula One changed up the sprint weekends. It effectively made each Saturday of a sprint weekend its own day, disconnected from the rest of the race weekend. Friday would feature practice and qualifying for Sunday. Saturday would have no bearing on the grand prix. Qualifying on Saturday set the sprint grid. The sprint results only paid the additional points for the top eight finishers. Any grid penalties were enforced based on the Friday results for the grand prix on Sunday.
These changes might be better, but the sprint races still do not quite fit. For starters, though the number of sprint weekends doubled this season, only six of 22 weekends have sprint races, and because of the nature of some tracks (Monaco in particular), there is a general feeling that no one wants the sprint format used at every grand prix.
Stuck in this middle ground of never quite working for every round, but only factoring in just over a quarter of the races, Formula One sprint weekends do not have a guaranteed future. However, Sky Sports Formula One lead commentator David Croft had an interesting proposition for the sprint weekends during Formula One's summer break.
During an episode of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Croft proposed a separate sprint championship that paid points to its own championship. Croft proposed the sprint festivities being held on Friday before the regular grand prix weekend commenced on Saturday. The lead commentator said it would allow teams to work on the cars and not have the cars under parc fermé conditions due to the sprint weekend. Croft even suggested the separate sprint championship could allow teams to put in a reserve driver for the sprint weekend while a full-time driver could get a day off before the grand prix portion began.
I can get behind this concept of a separate sprint championship. For starters, it could allow a handful of weekends to be different and add something to the grand prix weekend but not alter the world championship. I love the idea of it being used to allow reserve drivers to get a chance to run a Formula One car and get experience.
There are a few adjustments I would make. One, the sprint race would have to remain on Saturday. It would not get proper attention on a Friday. Two, it should only be for reserve drivers or at least drivers that have limited Formula One experience or have not been in Formula One for a while.
My proposal would be the sprint be limited to drivers with 20 or fewer starters, meaning they have never competed in a full season or a driver who has been out of Formula One for at least eight seasons, like Sébastien Buemi or Jean-Éric Vergne.
It was a peculiar feeling knowing the championship was already decided before we even got to Sunday even though it was still up for grabs on Friday. It was somewhat of an extra anti-climatic finish to what was already an obvious conclusion to this season. We all knew Verstappen was going to take this title. Claiming it during a Saturday sprint race felt flat.
This is our third season with sprint races, a feature of a race weekend that still quite hasn't found its place in Formula One. The sprint races are rarely better or different than the grand prix we will see on Sunday. They are more prologues for what will be more to come. Sprint weekends are disruptive in a bad way.
Previously, there was that uncertainty over why the sprint race would set the grand prix grid but qualifying set the sprint race lineup and then questioning where grid penalties should be enforced. This season, Formula One changed up the sprint weekends. It effectively made each Saturday of a sprint weekend its own day, disconnected from the rest of the race weekend. Friday would feature practice and qualifying for Sunday. Saturday would have no bearing on the grand prix. Qualifying on Saturday set the sprint grid. The sprint results only paid the additional points for the top eight finishers. Any grid penalties were enforced based on the Friday results for the grand prix on Sunday.
These changes might be better, but the sprint races still do not quite fit. For starters, though the number of sprint weekends doubled this season, only six of 22 weekends have sprint races, and because of the nature of some tracks (Monaco in particular), there is a general feeling that no one wants the sprint format used at every grand prix.
Stuck in this middle ground of never quite working for every round, but only factoring in just over a quarter of the races, Formula One sprint weekends do not have a guaranteed future. However, Sky Sports Formula One lead commentator David Croft had an interesting proposition for the sprint weekends during Formula One's summer break.
During an episode of the Sky Sports F1 Podcast, Croft proposed a separate sprint championship that paid points to its own championship. Croft proposed the sprint festivities being held on Friday before the regular grand prix weekend commenced on Saturday. The lead commentator said it would allow teams to work on the cars and not have the cars under parc fermé conditions due to the sprint weekend. Croft even suggested the separate sprint championship could allow teams to put in a reserve driver for the sprint weekend while a full-time driver could get a day off before the grand prix portion began.
I can get behind this concept of a separate sprint championship. For starters, it could allow a handful of weekends to be different and add something to the grand prix weekend but not alter the world championship. I love the idea of it being used to allow reserve drivers to get a chance to run a Formula One car and get experience.
There are a few adjustments I would make. One, the sprint race would have to remain on Saturday. It would not get proper attention on a Friday. Two, it should only be for reserve drivers or at least drivers that have limited Formula One experience or have not been in Formula One for a while.
My proposal would be the sprint be limited to drivers with 20 or fewer starters, meaning they have never competed in a full season or a driver who has been out of Formula One for at least eight seasons, like Sébastien Buemi or Jean-Éric Vergne.
This would keep the series as an additional development step but it would also allow some experienced drivers in who may still have what it takes to race in Formula One but not have the series full of the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Stoffel Vandoorne and other drivers who recently lost a Formula One ride. It would take away a crutch for the teams to lean on and force them to hire different drivers, especially from different corners of the motorsports world.
There could even be a relaxation of the Super License points requirement and allow drivers with say only ten points a chance in a Formula One car to prove himself or herself. This sprint championship could award additional Super License points and allow a driver to qualify for a full-time Formula One gig.
I would also make sure the sprint championship was nine races in length, but a driver could only compete in six races. Why? It forces each team to run at least three drivers. If there are nine races, each team would have 18 starts to fill. If a driver could only make six starts, a team could rotate three drivers in one season, all three could get six races and more drivers would get experience. That is a good thing for Formula One as a whole.
I would also make sure the sprint championship was nine races in length, but a driver could only compete in six races. Why? It forces each team to run at least three drivers. If there are nine races, each team would have 18 starts to fill. If a driver could only make six starts, a team could rotate three drivers in one season, all three could get six races and more drivers would get experience. That is a good thing for Formula One as a whole.
With the sprint being a separate championship, and if it were to remain on Saturday, I don't think the teams could use the current cars. It would be nonsensical for Mercedes for example to take Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's cars and change the seats out for two other drivers to race while risking what will be the grand prix car. However, it does not sound practical for each team to bring four of the current cars to a race weekend. I am not sure at what point in the season the teams have four cars ready to go. It definitely doesn't feel that way early in the year.
This could be the year-old car championship. There will be plenty around and they can still be useful for development. They still have to be brought to each race weekend, an additional cost, but these can be the sprint drivers' cars and they will not have to worry about damaging it and then ruining the race weekend for one of the main drivers.
A sprint championship running concurrently with the main championship would mean more in a race weekend, and it also means Friday doesn't have to be practice and qualifying for the grand prix on Sunday. The weekend could be kind of normal except for more Formula One action. Sprint weekends could be strategically scheduled when either Formula Three or Formula Two was not on the undercard.
Practice for the grand prix could remain the same with two one-hour sessions, but there could be a pair of 45-minute sessions set aside for the sprint championship. On Saturday, we could still have grand prix practice before a sprint qualifying session ahead of the grand prix qualifying with the sprint race closing out the day.
The sprint weekends could be spread over the calendar and rotated year to year. It doesn't have to be fixed at any venues. It could begin in Australia and Japan before moving to Canada, Austria and Silverstone. Belgium could host a round before running in Azerbaijan, Mexico and Brazil.
The next year could be Bahrain and China to start then Miami and Spain. Zandvoort and Monza could then be sprint rounds before Singapore, Brazil and Las Vegas close out. It doesn't have to be the same each year, nor should it be. Perhaps Brazil and Silverstone could be the constant sprint weekends, but each year should be something different.
Formula One's sprint format has not been fully embraced through its first three years, but an alteration could make it accepted. Changing it from being tied to the world championship but being something different that has different drivers competing could be the answer.
Champions From the Weekend
The #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Serani and Alexander Sims clinched the IMSA GTP championship with a sixth-place finish at Petit Le Mans.
The #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca-Gibson of Ben Keating and Paul-Loup Chatin clinched the IMSA LMP2 championship with a fourth-place finish.
The #14 VasserSullivan Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth clinched the IMSA GTD Pro championship by starting the Petit Le Mans season finale.
The #40 Tresor Orange1 Audi of Ricardo Feller and Mattia Drudi clinched the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup championship by sweeping the Zandvoort doubleheader.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about a few champions, but did you know...
The #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun and Hélio Castroneves won Petit Le Mans. The #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca-Gibson of George Kurtz, Ben Hanley and Nolan Siegel won in LMP2. The #30 JR III Racing Ligier-Nissan of Dakota Dickerson, Bijoy Garg and Garett Grist won in LMP3. The #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG of Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Maro Engel won in GTD Pro. The #78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg, Loris Spinelli and Patrick Liddy won in GTD.
Francesco Bagnaia won MotoGP's Indonesian Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season. Jorge Martín won the sprint race. Pedro Acosta won the Moto2 race, his seventh victory of the season. Diogo Moreira won the Moto3 race, his first career victory.
Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Las Vegas, his fourth victory of the season. Riley Herbst won the Grand National Series race, his first career victory.
The #36 TGR Team au TOM’S Toyota of Sho Tsuboi and Ritomo Miyata won in Super GT race from Autopolis, its second victory of the season. The #52 Saitama Toyopet GreenBrave Toyota of Hiroki Yoshida and Konya Kawaai won in GT300, its second consecutive victory.
Coming Up This Weekend
The first time the United States Grand Prix hosts a sprint weekend.
MotoGP heads to its best race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix from Phillip Island.
The European Le Mans Series concludes with a doubleheader in Portimão.
Hockenheim closes out the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season.
NASCAR has its antepenultimate race from Homestead.
