Let's put drivers in different cars for the sprints.

Remains to be seen. Cars line up Sunday in the order they finished in the sprint.

Theoretically the cars are in Parc Ferme after Fridays qualifying results. I see new rulings on the horizon.

Won't this (sprint race) increase costs? Racing a car is much more expensive than running a qualifying or practice session. What happens if a car gets destroyed during a Saturday race, and can't be rebuilt in time for Sunday? There's certainly more risk in a race than in a practice session, as Bottas and Russell demonstrated recently.

more details:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.everything-you-need-to-know-about-f1s-new-sprint-qualifying-format-including.1Lawf6r6Ab0y8ha0satSjx.html

I bet we see a few of the teams MIA on Sunday.

Aren't teams worried about damaging their Sunday cars during the Saturday sprint races?

Some teams might bring out their 5 year old sacrificial cars out of mothballs (and maybe Andrea de Cesares) to whittle the starting grid down to more manageable numbers.

You wont be able to get him.

hint rules change too much to run last years car this year
let alone anything older

they can rebuild a car over nite when needed

they do bring all the bits needed inc a spare tub/frame to every race

Sorry to pick on deCesaris (RIP). I could have used a more contemporary, crash-prone driver (e.g. Grosjean), but I don't want to pile on too much. BTW, wish him the best in the Indy Car series.

S

That could happen. Especially to an unnamed Russian.

Maybe Haas and Williams skip the Sprints?

Yeah, why bother as they know to be at back anyways.

Put em all in spec shifter carts on the sprint!!

FIA will probably impose some sort of penalty/fine for not racing on Saturday.

Not to difficult to imagine the backmarkers doing some testing during the sprint races and having to retire the car due to 'technical issues' after a couple of laps.

Or rental cars!

Hmm. That's a thought. Honestly, other than maybe at Monaco (and arguably not even there, as points only pay to the 10th position), does it make a difference if you start at P17 or P20?

But then the "testing" can't be of new parts/aero bits, as the cars will likely be impounded in parc ferme overnight, until Sunday's race.

And I wouldn't be surprised if FIA will require a proof via telemetry that there was a problem that would necessitate a DNF. They're not going to let the backmarker teams make a mockery of the sprint race.

I prefer the Indycar approach: a race is a race.

It will be interesting to see if anyone tries to game the process.

It will also be interesting to see if anyone is more cautious than usual on the start since a mistake will screw you for the real race.

They should have looked for manufacturers to sponsor the sprint races with spec cars like Porsche cup races or something like that. The manufacturer would be able to showcase their cars, and the drivers their skill, without being handicapped by a donkey cart of a car. It would provide a lot of material for Monday watercooler discussions, esp if the finishing order decided the start order for Sunday.

Quali
 

GLAD for Q3 bookends Bottas and Vettel: Hoping for a good race tomorrow.

There’s a decent accounting of what took place that year in this book by Tim Considine: American Grand Prix Racing: A Century of Drivers & Cars.

Most of the blame falls on McLaren, as they were exceedingly late to get their car running that season and Michael had no worthwhile testing. Between the car not running and bad weather, he didn’t have even two full days of seat time. In the races, the car constantly ****ed up and Michael made a few mistakes, from lack of knowledge of the drivers and the tracks. The car had potential, but McLaren did a **** job of preparation. Things like the engine failing to start, or the clutch failing to work, or it up shifting from 1st to 3rd on the starts, or the software forgetting where the car was on the track and adjusting the active suspension for the wrong corners, it was one thing after another. At one race, he got caught out in some marbles on the outside of a corner, which he wasn’t used to because an IndyCar they cleaned the track before the race. They didn’t do that in F1 and nobody told him.

Read Michael’s chapter in the book. It was a real **** show and I put most of the blame on Ron Dennis, and have hated that mother****er ever since. I doubt I will ever run into the guy at this point but if I do, he’s going to get his ass kicked.

Just finished watching Q2. F1 rules are such a joke, the cars can be entirely outside the white line and still be within “track limits”.

The stewards are gutless too.