Despite having faced criticism from reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has expressed a positive reaction to the proposed format changes to sprint weekends, which will see two qualifying sessions take place.
The weekend format is certainly something that is seeing plenty of change as of late, with sprint races in general having only been introduced in 2021.
Despite having only been introduced recently, they are already set for a change, with F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali wanting to remove as much practice time as possible.
Based on the expected changes to sprint weekends, it appears that Domenicali has gotten his wish, with only one practice session to take place.
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Under the new sprint format, Fridays will feature FP1 and a qualifying session for the main race, the Saturday will feature a qualifying session to determine the grid for the sprint race and then the sprint race itself, whilst the Sunday will continue to host just the main race.
Verstappen is one driver firmly against the changes, with the Dutchman having been against sprint races in general since they were originally discussed.
Hamilton on the other hand, is all for the changes, with the 38-year-old believing the sport must continue “evolving”.
“I do think we constantly need to be evolving and assessing what we’re doing,” said Hamilton.
“I think the changes with the sprint races have been positive in some places. I’m open to changes, to continue to make it more inclusive and more engaging for the fans.
“I quite like the Friday of a sprint weekend so far, and I’d love to have more qualifying because that’s always super fun. I just think it should be different.
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“Perhaps we can just apply just slightly small changes to different races, specific to those places.
“But if there’s a race where you can’t overtake like Monaco, what else can we do there to make it more exciting?”
The first sprint race of the season is at the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix; however, it’s yet to be confirmed whether the new sprint format will be introduced there or at the next sprint weekend in Austria.