Lewis Hamilton battles Kevin Magnussen during the Miami sprint raceThe Miami sprint was won by Max Verstappen
Should F1 dispose of free practice?
Since it was introduced, the F1 sprint has had a mixed reaction from fans and drivers, with the extra qualifying session and race replacing the final two practice sessions.
Max Verstappen was especially critical of the sprint in 2023 arguing F1 should ‘scrap the whole thing’ with a distaste for the extra qualifying session.
“I like to have one particular qualifying where you just put everything in it, which was yesterday which I of course enjoyed. But then we had to do it again today,” he said last season.
“I was like ‘my God, another qualifying’. I just don’t really enjoy that.”
However, others have argued that the sprint offers more entertainment than the usual practice sessions.
Speaking on Sky Sports, 2009 title winner Jenson Button praised the sprint format, and its potential to mix up the grid.
“I just think we need to get rid of practice,” said the Sky Sports F1 pundit.
“Let’s get rid of practice, straight into qualifying because you see in sprint qualifying, it’s always mixed up.
“I thought Lando [Norris] had a really good chance of putting it at the front there. But once they get a few more laps under their belt, data information comes back to the team, set up tweaks, and they just go out, even though it was a little scruffy out there, they’re still kind of in team order out there.”
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