As fans return to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, Formula One will welcome them with a jazzed up format that adds ‘the Sprint’, eff...
As fans return to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, Formula One will welcome them with a jazzed up format that adds ‘the Sprint’, effectively an extra race, on Saturday.
With UK coronavirus restrictions relaxing, Silverstone can host a capacity crowd of 140,000 on all three days.
The changes on the first two days are an effort to provide that crowd, and viewers, with more action. They are an experiment that will be repeated, at most, at two more races this season.
Ross Brawn, the F1 sporting director, told the F1 web site he hoped for a “much more complete weekend with three days of intense competition.”
Not everyone is convinced. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton predicted the Sprint will be “a train”.
“The race remains on Sunday”, said Jean Todt, the president of the FIA, the governing body of motorsports.
The Saturday event, organisers are calling either ‘Sprint Qualifying’ or ‘F1 Sprint’ is the eye-catching innovation, but its introduction has a knock-on effect which will be noticable from the start of the weekend.
Friday will open as usual with a practice, but it has been moved to the afternoon.
It is followed by “qualifying”, switched from Saturday afternoon to early Friday evening to give “the first day of track action some gravitas and a crescendo...
