Improvements to sprint race format?

[V8 Fireworks]

Are improvements to the sprint race format possible?

IMO the ratio of practice and qualifying to racing is out of proportion. Why does a sprint weekend need 2 Top 10 shootouts?

2 x 1 hour races was (arguably) rather underwhelming.

Thoughts?

I would suggest something like 2 x 45 min to 1 hour sprints on Saturday followed by a 1.5-2 hour feature race on Sunday.

My preference is for progressive grids (even in dual 250km events, which is a good format), however I appreciate some people are strongly against progressive grids.

Or how about sprint (20-30 min, no pitstops) + feature (1hr to 1hr 30min) races on both race days? Say both using the same grid set by a 20 min qualifying session (or, heaven forbid, reverse the top 10 for the sprint...)?

[one five five]

I don’t understand the issue with a one hour race per day as the format. If the cars were racing eachother better no one would mention the formats

MotoGP has a 45min race on a Sunday
Most F1 races are over in around 80mins without any dramas
Indycar races are similar

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by one five five

If the cars were racing eachother better no one would mention the formats

But they don't race better, hence the issue? Not in the Sprint format anyway, they don't turn on the touring car action at all.

Maybe no pitstops and no strategy would help in the sprint races?

The sprint racing at the Grand Prix without pitstops was much, much better. The Sprint coverage seems to think people want to watch cars trundling down the pitlane (they do not). So removal of the tactical element and making it a battle on track might help?

[Matt K]

Actually, the Melbourne races from this year showed that sprint races without pitstops provide great racing. Perhaps a good solution would be to have some of the races with such a format (around 70-80km for instance and no pit stop) and others more like 200-250km where strategy plays a bigger part. And of course enduros. That'd seem like a good mixture of formats that provide both sprint, typical touring car action but also those longer, strategy-driven ones. The current SuperSprint format is something in between - neither really sprint, nor the long, strategy-driven and is neither aggressive and action-packed nor relies on tyre wear, fuel management etc.

As for the number of races, I'd be fine with keeping them as is. Somehow don't feel like increasing the number is really the recipe, if we had 14 rounds with mostly 2 races per round (except of course Bathurst and Sandown/something else that replaces it), we'd have a decent number of races. Back in the day when each weekend had three races and the total was around 40 was too many in my opinion. On one hand you can never have too much of racing but on the other having it around 24-28 is the best one IMO.

Similarly, not a fan of a sprint and feature race format as this always makes one race of the weekend seem not very important.

[Tourer]

Races without pitstops at the GP were good this year but in the past, at the same venue races without pit stops have been processional. Because it delivered once doesn't mean it'll deliver all the time.

Progressive grids used to be the standard approach but the teams really hated them and ultimately going to separate qual for each race gave fans more of that balls-to-the-wall qualifying so everyone was a winner - can't honestly see it going back.

If formats are to be looked at, then what tyres are used needs to be part of that conversation. Personally, my view is that some variety through the year, much the same as Matt K suggests above, has worked well in the past and can work well again - pick the venues that work best for each type of format and away we go.

No guarantees though - some races simply won't "arc up" and others will be really good.