If you don’t like it, diddums

APOLOGIES to Mr B C Ecclestone, fellow traditionalists and purists everywhere, but the sprint race is an innovation worth trialling.

If you don’t believe the new format is even worth a shot you may not have sat through as many interminable Friday practice sessions as I have.

The new format removes some of those deathly hours, loved by engineers but by practically nobody else and does so without losing any

other element. Qualifying remains, just moved to a Friday. An extra race, the sprint, comes in, of course. And the actual grand prix remains intact.

I have a few minor concerns. The half-an-hour slot is too short. Why not extend it to 45 minutes? Also, why not award ‘pole positions’ on the basis of qualifying rather than wait until the sprint result is confirmed? My feeling that the sprint is a good idea was reinforced when Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff complained that yesterday’s action threw up ‘randomness’.

He cited Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who had qualified fifth, running off and going to the back of the grid. That isn’t randomness or bad luck, it is sport and if the participants don’t overly like it, diddums.

The hope is that the design of next year’s cars are more conducive to overtaking. That is the most pressing requirement, however many laps you race.