Formula 1 is coming back to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix in two weeks. While drivers like the track, they raised concerns on Sunday about a part of the race weekend – the F1 sprint race.
The sprint race is a shorter race held on Saturday before the main race on Sunday, and there are six of them throughout the 2024 season. But having the sprint race means less practice time, which worries most drivers.
The top three finishers in Sunday’s Japanese GP questioned whether holding a sprint race in China was a good idea, especially since the track hasn’t hosted an F1 race since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think China as a race circuit is a great one,” said Carlos Sainz of Ferrari. “It’s one of our favorite tracks. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to have the sprint race there after being away for four or five years. We’ve also heard there’s resurfacing happening.”
Sergio Perez of Red Bull shared similar thoughts, saying, “I just hope there aren’t any issues with the track. Any problems like drain holes could disrupt our preparations. It might be good for the show, but it will be tough for us to get ready.”
Max Verstappen, who won in Japan, thinks the weekend will be hectic because of the sprint race and the long break from Shanghai.
“We haven’t been there in a while, so we’ll only have one practice session to get used to it again. It will be interesting,” he said. “But honestly, I don’t think it’s a great idea. When you haven’t been to a track for a long time, you never know what to expect. It would have been better to have a normal race weekend.”
