Ross Brawn has highlighted how Brazil showed that sprint qualifying is a “great addition” to F1, having seen how the Brazilian GP weekend unfolded.
The sprint race last Saturday was all kinds of drama. Among the highlights was Lewis Hamilton’s insane charge from plum last to a staggering fifth place. In 24 laps, he made up fifteen places, which is an utterly bonkers stat.
The 30-minute dash was lit up by the seven-time champion, who started in last position thanks to a disqualification. Coupling that with the other highlights meant the Saturday Sprint was an absolute cracker.
Brawn highlighted how Brazil showed that sprint qualifying is a “great addition” to F1, and called for it to be a more regular feature.
“Saturday’s F1 Sprint was, in my view, the best one of the three (sprints),” the F1 chief said after the race, as quoted by f1i.com.
“It had plenty of action, with loads of battles – including Lewis carving his way through the field. It was a great Saturday afternoon of entertainment, an appetiser for the main course on Sunday.
“We had a fabulous Friday too, with a dramatic qualifying session. It can never be underestimated how much of an impact the Sprint has on a Friday. With only one hour of practice, it creates some jeopardy heading into the rest of the weekend, as the teams are not as prepared as they can be.”
Implementation
The sprint trial is now over, and it has presented the higher-ups with enough data to evaluate its future. Brawn reckoned it will make a return in some capacity next year.
“We think the foundations are very strong for the Sprint and will be presenting more details of our plans for six events in 2022 in the coming weeks in discussions with the FIA and the teams,” he added.
“There are things we need to tweak but Brazil showed the Sprint is a great addition to the weekend and has made Friday, Saturday and Sunday big moments that are exciting for all of us.”