Mercedes chief Wolff slams supposed solution to F1 sprint race controversy

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has labelled the idea of reverse grid sprint races in Formula 1 as 'really stupid'.

F1 have now confirmed that sprint races are back for 2024, with six venues now locked in to host the shortened race format.

China and Miami have been added to the list – replacing Azerbaijan and Belgium – while Austin, Austria, Brazil, and Qatar all keep their spots.

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Yet not everyone has been enthralled with the idea of sprint races – perhaps none more so than Max Verstappen – as the sport looks to find a way to appease some of the issues with the changed weekend format.

One idea that is often touted is that of a reverse grid for the sprint race, seeing the fastest start from the back and vice versa.

If this were to be implemented, it would likely be done on championship standing rather than qualifying in a bid to stop intentionally slow lap times.

Yet even this proposal would not tick the box for Wolff, who believes that reverse grids would be akin to watching WWE.

Wolff: Reverse grid for sprint races 'really stupid'

"I can understand the service, that people like it – there’s more people like it than don’t," he said (via Speedcafe).

“Maybe I’m too purist, too old school, but I’d rather have a grand prix than a sprint race weekend. We need to know that a grand prix is at two or three o’clock in the afternoon, and that’s it.

“We’ve now done these sprint race weekends, and we are tweaking the format, which I think is positive.

“To a degree, you do a sprint qualifying, you do a sprint race, you do grand prix qualifying, and you do a grand prix. That works much better.

“We talked about reverse grid races. I can get my head around a reverse grid sprint race because at least we are really declaring that’s the stupid race.

"Six times a year, we’re doing something that is really stupid, and everybody knows to differentiate that.

“There will be other winners and different podiums, that’s refreshing. So we do WWE on Saturday six times, and then we play Formula 1 24 times on Sunday.”

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