F1’s controversial sprint race format makes a return for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.
F1 sprint sees a 100km race taking place on Saturday afternoon, with conventional qualifying being moved to Friday.
This means teams only have one practice session to set up their cars ahead of qualifying.
While the new format hasn’t won over all fans, the reduction in practice running is only a positive.
There will be six sprint events in F1 2023 – three more than we’ve seen in 2021 and 2022.
Most wins in F1 sprint
Max Verstappen – 3 (Britain ‘21, Imola ‘22, Austria ‘22)
Valtteri Bottas – 2 (Italy ‘21, Brazil ‘21)
Only two drivers have won the F1 sprint since its introduction in 2021.
Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton in the first-ever sprint race at Silverstone, giving us a glimpse of what was about to unfold during the main grand prix
Valtteri Bottas finished ahead of Verstappen at Monza and Brazil respectively.
The Finn was set to start from the back of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix following an engine change so maximised his weekend with a faultless display.
In Brazil, starting on soft tyres, he got ahead of Verstappen into Turn 1 before resisting immense pressure in the closing laps to claim another sprint win.
Most points in F1 sprint
Max Verstappen – 23
Charles Leclerc – 14
Carlos Sainz – 12
Sergio Perez – 10
Valtteri Bottas – 9
George Russell – 5
Daniel Ricciardo – 4
Lando Norris – 4
Lewis Hamilton – 3
Esteban Ocon – 3
Kevin Magnussen – 3
For its first year, points were only handed out to the top three finishers (3-2-1).
To make the sprint more rewarding, points are now given out to the top eight (8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).
Verstappen is the clear winner with 23 points – he’s never failed to finish outside of the top two in a sprint race.
The Ferrari drivers are next up – benefitting from the revised points system for 2022.
