Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Formula 1’s plan to expand its Sprint calendar to 12 events next season has come under renewed scrutiny after Zandvoort’s 24-lap race produced little wheel-to-wheel action, despite George Russell taking his third Sprint win of the season.
Russell controlled the race from pole, while Charles Leclerc’s Lap 18 move on Lando Norris at Turn 1 stood as the only major overtaking moment. One social-media user’s verdict captured the reaction: “This race could have been an email.”
Zandvoort’s layout offers few realistic passing opportunities, and the problem was amplified when much of the field ran comparable tyres. With no substantial pace offset to create opportunities, the order was shaped mainly by tyre performance rather than racing between drivers.
That makes the planned Sprint expansion a more significant question than simply adding extra competitive sessions to a weekend. Reduced practice time can limit teams’ ability to refine their setups and potentially create a less predictable order, while promoters gain more on-track action to sell across the weekend. But those benefits carry less weight when the Sprint itself becomes a high-speed procession.
The next Sprint is scheduled for Singapore, another venue with limited overtaking opportunities. Its inclusion risks extending the same debate immediately, with critics arguing that the format should be reserved for circuits where passing is realistically achievable rather than applied regardless of track characteristics.
Formula 1 has already revised the format once after the original 2021 system showed its limitations. Friday qualifying initially set the Sprint grid, and the Sprint then set the Grand Prix grid, often simply restoring the field to its underlying pace order. Separate qualifying sessions and parc ferme rules were later introduced, detaching the Sprint from the Grand Prix starting grid.
The Zandvoort race has strengthened the case for another review, either through further changes to the format or by selecting Sprint venues that can offer racing beyond a single tyre-driven pass.