Formula 1
Gasly: New F1 sprint format will free up “genius guys” to change cars
Pierre Gasly has welcomed Formula 1’s revised sprint format as an opportunity for “genius guys” in teams to work on car set-up over a race weekend.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Feb 13, 2024, 11:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Last year teams were locked into choices made after FP1 as the cars were in parc ferme for main qualifying, the shootout, the sprint and the grand prix.
That meant an uncompetitive car couldn’t be improved with set-up tweaks, and also led to issues like the excessive plank wear that led to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc being disqualified after the US GP.
Under the new format, FP1 is followed by the shootout and sprint under an initial parc ferme, and then teams have the opportunity to use the knowledge that they’ve gained to change their cars before they go into a second parc ferme that covers main qualifying and the race.
Details of exactly how the new format will work were discussed on Friday by a meeting of the sporting advisory committee.
"I think that's great,” said Gasly when asked by Motorsport.com about the changes. “I think that was missing, definitely. We ended up last year having amazing, brilliant, genius guys on a Friday afternoon being forbidden to touch anything on our car.
“That's what they are paid for, that's why they are the best. It was a bit sad, because they have much more to bring to the table than just one or two clicks of front flap and tyre pressure.
“F1 is the top of engineering, and I think it's great we still give them the opportunity to always make these continuous improvements through the weekend."
Mechanics work on the car of Pierre Gasly, Alpine A523
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Gasly confirmed that previously his engineers were left frustrated when they knew they could improve the car but were not able to do so.
"Exactly,” he said. “You don't have time to try anything. Because in one hour practice, you're quite limited. So it was always like, try to do the work in the simulator.
“If you realise you didn't start the weekend with the best set-up, your window to react was extremely small. So I think as a sport it was the definitely the right change."
Read Also:
Formula 1Alpine F1 team didn’t wait for Hamilton move to start driver talks
Formula 1The major change Hamilton's Ferrari move could have on his F1 legacy
Formula 1Why new British GP deal shows F1 and Silverstone need each other
Gasly’s team-mate Esteban Ocon agreed the new format will be beneficial.
“It would be good to do a sprint shootout and then close the parc ferme to do the sprint race and then reopen it before qualifying,” he said.
“I think that's what we should be doing. It will be much more interesting as a weekend, and we will see a lot less mistakes with stupid things like plank wear.”
Watch: Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain - Alpine A524 Revealed
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Why do F1 cars run flow-vis paint and aero rakes in testing?
Next article Aston Martin reveals “strong evolution” for revamped AMR24 F1 2024 car
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Latest news
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
1 h
Jesse Love barely holds off Sam Mayer for NASCAR O'Reilly win at Phoenix
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
4 h
Lando Norris faces anxious wait as F2 prepares to decide future of his racing team
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
5 h
NASCAR Cup Phoenix starting lineup: Blaney earns pole as Larson struggles
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
6 h
Ryan Blaney kind of faces a must-win scenario this weekend at Phoenix
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe