Million dollars, reverse grid and other ideas. F1 wants to change the sprint

Following the sprint at the US Grand Prix, Red Bull boss Christian Horner called on Formula 1 to consider changes to the format of the sprint race.

Even before then, F1 was reportedly considering how it could improve the format. Now the sprint is held on Saturday and the top 8 riders receive points (8 points for 1st place, 7 for 2nd place and then 8 for 8th place).

Formula 1 tentatively has various ideas regarding other formats.

For example, pay $1 million to the winner of a sprint race. To do this, F1 can find a sponsor willing to pay 6-8 million per season (depending on the number of sprints in the season).

It is being discussed that the points related to the race will not be taken into account in the general classification and that a separate sprint classification will be made so that only the winner can compete in the sprint at the end of the season. There have been ideas for a reverse starter grid for a long time.

For example, the first starter in a sprint will be the person who achieved the 10th result in the standard qualifying, and the pole sitter will start the race in 10th position (reverse ranking for the top 10 in the qualifying or full reverse ranking in the race where the pole sitter starts the sprint in 20th position) .

Despite the dissatisfaction of the same Max Verstappen, who generally considers the Sprint an unnecessary event, Formula 1 does not plan to abandon the format yet. There will be 6 sprint races this season and it is unlikely that there will be fewer of them in 2024.