Sebastian Vettel questions F1 plans for 'Sprint Races', calls for other solutions

Sebastian Vettel questions Formula 1's plans to introduce F1 sprint races and calls for other solutions to make the sport more interesting. The latest F1 news is that sprint races are being planned on the Saturday of three Grand Prix weekends this year as a trial to change the format of F1 in future years. These F1 sprint races will decide the grid on Sunday.

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Sebastian Vettel slams F1 plans of sprint races

For the F1 sprint races, a 100 km event is being planned for races in Canada, Italy and Brazil after several teams gave "broad support" at the last F1 Commission meeting. As per reports, further details are being finalised by a working group in the coming weeks and a final decision is expected before the start of the season. However, a number of drivers, including four-time Driver's Champion Sebastian Vettel questioned the rationale behind these plans.

Vettel highlighted that these F1 sprint races plans are likely to devalue the Sunday Grand Prix victories and not solve any issues with the on-track racing. Vettel told Autosport, "Why would you have a pre-final to a final? What’s the point of that?"

Vettel slammed F1 for even considering such a solution as he said that this plan "makes no sense" since the 300 km Grand Prix on Sunday is the main challenge of the weekend. Vettel added that such a solution is "shifting or taking the focus away from the real problem" and that F1 needs to change some other format to make F1 more interesting. "I think if you have to introduce something like this, then there is something else that you need to fix other than the format, or another race, or another two minutes, or a Q4 or Q5, or whatever it is," added Vettel.

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F1 2021 schedule

F1 does not have much time to reconsider these plans as the new season is set to begin in about three weeks. The first race on the F1 calendar is the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is scheduled to begin at 8:30 PM IST on March 28th at the Bahrain International Circuit. As per the F1 2021 schedule, the action then moves to Italy and Spain.

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Lewis Hamilton chases record eighth F1 Driver's Championship

Lewis Hamilton won his seventh Driver's Championship last year with Mercedes to equal Michael Schumacher's tally. This season, Hamilton will chase his record eight F1 Driver's Championship with Mercedes after he signed a new one-year contract in January. Mercedes will also look to extend their record for the most consecutive Constructor's Championship wins to eight this season.

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