Carlos Sainz: Don't be afraid to experiment

      Carlos Sainz has proposed radically changing the format of those race weekends that include a sprint, hoping to liven up Saturday races that do not always follow an exciting script.

      Partly this is because, at the start of the sprint, drivers fit Medium compound tyres to the cars, and, in effect, the short race becomes similar to the first stint of a Grand Prix, when not much happens on track.

      The Spanish Williams driver believes the use of soft tyres in sprints should be legalized and that we should not be afraid to experiment — he also made clear he would not be opposed to a reversed grid.

      "If it rains in Canada or Singapore, such a sprint could become the best in history," Carlos said, quoted by RacingNews365. "I’m talking primarily about changing the format of that race, and I think that is what needs to be done for the sprint. I think Stefano Domenicali, the president of Formula 1, would be willing to go for it.

      "At the moment I’m not a big fan of sprints, because such a race shows how the first stint of the Grand Prix will play out. Personally, I have other ideas about the sprint so these races are less like the Sunday race. The simplest idea could be that everyone starts the sprint on soft tyres, because they suffer heavy degradation.

      "Usually we choose the soft tyre for the first stint of the main race at only a few tracks, and there are very few of those. This approach could be a very simple temporary solution also because we have to throw away up to five sets of tyres. At every round we do one lap on softs in qualifying, then we return them, and I don’t know where Pirelli stores them afterwards. But we think those tyres are only good for one fast lap. In short, that would be the simplest way out.

      "Although maybe other measures will be needed to sharpen the on-track fight, and the sprint gives good opportunities to experiment with different formats. So we should be bolder, and if something works — great; if not — then you change the format again. That’s what we’ve done in the past.

      "I’m not a fan of a reversed grid, but I wouldn’t categorically oppose trying something completely different; for example, you could run the sprint qualifying final as a superpole. We need to keep experimenting, not be afraid of that, and to abandon approaches that don’t work and be able to admit it."