Hamilton 'Open To Keep Experimenting' With Sprint Weekends, But 6 Is Enough

Thursday, 09 November 2023 at 19:00

Mercedes F1 driver Lewis Hamilton shared his opinion on sprint weekends after the last sprint weekend of 2023 in Sao Paulo.

Lewis Hamilton mentioned in the past that he liked the format of sprint weekend, where teams have only one practice session to set up their cars.

On the other hand, it did not turn out well for Mercedes during the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix as the team failed to adjust the right set-up and did not have pace throughout the whole weekend as a result.

Even though it hurt his performance in Sao Paulo, Hamilton still favored only one practice session. As reported by PlanetF1, the seven-time World Champion said:

"Saturday’s not the greatest of days, but I like the single practice session straight into qualifying. I think we can learn. I love that we do have a different format, rather than just the same three practice sessions and then the qualifying and the race."

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Max Verstappen openly said in the past he does not like sprint weekends and would get all six in the current calendar as they take the magic away from the race on Sunday. Hamilton agrees with that point.

"I think right now, six is enough. I agree that Saturday’s too revealing of what’s going to happen on Sunday. It is basically the first stint of the race of Sunday, what you’re watching on TV, and this doesn’t help, I think, the show for the main race which is the Grand Prix."

The Mercedes driver mentioned his favorite sprint race was when he started from the back of the grid. Reversed grid is something that was also suggested by Carlos Sainz or Christian Horner in the past.

"So you arrive to the point, you’d better try something else on Saturday. Is that reverse grids? Is that single lap qualifying? Is that… whatever, I don’t know."

Hamilton clarified that he is open to experimenting as the current format does not feel completely right. With multiple complaints on the table, maybe F1 will rethink the sprint format for the 2024 season.

"But I think given that the Sprint format is a bit of an experiment going on right now in Formula 1, I would be open to keep experimenting to see which format is best because for me the one we have now, just Saturday, doesn’t feel completely right for what then comes on Sunday."