F1 champion calls for practice sessions to be AXED

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Miami Grand Prix

F1 champion calls for practice sessions to be AXED

Has the Miami sprint sealed the fate of one of F1's long-standing weekend features?

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Tuesday 7 May 2024 11:58 Updated: 18:00

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A former F1 champion has called for free practice sessions to be axed after the Miami sprint race delivered in very entertaining fashion on Saturday.

Miami hosted the second sprint race of the season, and whilst there wasn’t a new winner, the race was brimming with exciting on-track action.

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Daniel Ricciardo produced an outstanding display to hold on to fourth after his excellent qualifying performance, while Lewis Hamilton was engaged in an intense battle with Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda throughout.

Lewis Hamilton battles Kevin Magnussen during the Miami sprint race

The 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.

Jenson Button has discussed F1's weekend format

“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.”

Lewis Hamilton Daniel Ricciardo Yuki Tsunoda Kevin Magnussen