Hamilton Supportive Of Sprint Weekends Because Of 'Lot Of Time Wasted'
F1Sunday, 21 April 2024 at 20:00
Lewis Hamilton explained to the media after the sprint race on Saturday why he personally really enjoyed the sprint weekend format.
Sprint races have been a big topic of discussion ever since they were introduced. Multiple drivers have suggested the format needed improvement, and some, like Max Verstappen, have even openly said they don't like it at all.
Lewis Hamilton has generally been more open to change and innovation in F1. In the past, he said he liked that the sport was trying to introduce something new for the fans.
During the Sprint race at Shanghai International Circuit, the seven-time World Champion scored his best result of the season—a P2.
Consequently, he took part in the media session (consisting of the top 3 finishers), where he was asked to comment on the sprint format this year. He said:
"I've always generally enjoyed the Sprint format. I think there's a lot of time wasted on these weekends. And we could either shorten the weekends, or pack the day more so that the fans have more of an experience."
"There's literally hours and hours… There's at least 10 hours wasted during the day where we could be entertaining the fans on track. And of course sustainability has to come into that."
Sprint weekends have undergone a small change ahead of this season. The sequence of sessions changed, but more importantly, the rules changed as well.
Whereas before, teams had to choose their car's setup after the first practice sessions and weren't allowed to change much afterward (which could mean a team would be stuck with the wrong setup for the whole weekend), they now can make changes even later which gives them more flexibility.
"And otherwise I think also, the ability to be able to make a change right now and potentially try and close the gap to the Red Bulls or at least whoever's up ahead of us tomorrow I think is great for the race weekend."
"Before, if you were just stuck in it right now, you would already absolutely know the end race result but today we've got something new and exciting."
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