Hamilton In Support Of Reversed Grid As Opposed To His Teammate Russell

Wednesday, 06 December 2023 at 21:00

Updated at Wednesday, 06 December 2023 at 22:44

hamiltonrussell mercedes steveetherington

The seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton gave a Sprint Weekend verdict contradicting his teammate George Russell's opinion.

In 2023, we have seen six Sprint weekends in the F1 calendar. Some of them are more exciting than others, but what is important is that we will see six Sprint weekends again in 2024, and their hosting venues have recently been revealed.

While Formula One wants to keep the Sprint race in the calendar despite mixed reactions and a few objections, the leaders are open to discussions in relation to some changes to the format.

One of the most frequent suggestions has been to make Sprint Races more exciting and packed with action by reversing the Sunday starting grid determined by Friday's Qualification.

However, George Russell recently asserted the reversed or semi-reversed grid would not work based on his experience from the junior series.

Read also

Investigation Against Toto And Susie Wolff - All You Need To Know

The 25-year-old explained that a reversed grid would put the biggest rivals up against each other, making it hard to overtake, and people would be disappointed by not seeing many overtakes.

On the other hand, his teammate Lewis Hamilton has a different opinion based on his experience in Formula One, where he had to start the 2021 Sao Paulo Sprint race from the back of the grid. He told the media:

"The best sprint race I ever had was when I started last [in Brazil 2021] and so I'm in favour of the reverse order, except if we had that then everyone will just try and qualify last!"

To contradict Hamilton's prediction about trying to Qualify last, if there was only one qualifying session that would also determine the starting grid for the Sunday Grand Prix, drivers should, in general, try to qualify the best as there are more points awarded for the Sunday race.

It is also true that the 38-year-old started the 2021 Sao Paulo Sprint race as the only fastest driver at the back of the grid and did not have his main rivals anywhere around, which made it easier to overtake compared to the situation that Russell described.

The seven-time World Champion also added the Sprint Race should be longer if there were a reversed grid because there would not be enough time for drivers to get to the front in 19 laps.