Sainz presiona para una reforma de los fines de semana de sprint.

      «Que todos salgan únicamente con el neumático blando»

      Carlos Sainz ha pedido que la Fórmula 1 haga cambios adicionales en el formato de los fines de semana de sprint, ya que el concepto sigue dividiendo a pilotos y promotores de cara al evento de sprint de este fin de semana en Austin.

      El piloto de Williams, que también es miembro de la junta directiva de la Asociación de Pilotos de Grandes Premios, dijo a Auto Motor und Sport que el consejero delegado de la F1, Stefano Domenicali, está "abierto a probar otras cosas", pero que la configuración actual no aporta mucho emoción.

      "Para mí, es importante que el formato cambie. Stefano está abierto a probar otras cosas. En este momento, no soy un gran fan del sprint", dijo Sainz. "Solo muestra cómo será la primera tanda del domingo."

      Sainz reveló que tiene "sus propias ideas" sobre cómo se podrían mejorar las carreras de formato corto.

      "Una solución simple sería dejar que todos salgan únicamente con el neumático blando, porque tiene una alta degradación", explicó. "En algunos circuitos, solo usamos el blando para una vuelta rápida y luego tiramos cinco juegos que han sido poco utilizados."

      Aun así, Sainz cree que eso por sí solo no sería suficiente.

      "Necesita algo más emocionante", dijo. "Tenemos que experimentar con el formato y estar abiertos a ello. Si funciona, sería genial. Si no, lo cambiaremos, como lo hemos hecho en el pasado."

      Domenicali reavivó recientemente la discusión sobre usar una parrilla invertida para los sprint, una idea que Sainz ni respaldó ni rechazó.

      "Personalmente, no soy muy partidario, pero tampoco estoy fundamentalmente en contra", dijo.

      El español propuso en cambio una alternativa: "La clasificación del sprint podría cambiarse; por ejemplo, celebrar una Super Pole sería una opción." El formato, usado brevemente a principios de la década de 2000, consistiría en que cada piloto complete una vuelta lanzada en solitario para determinar la parrilla.

      Es poco probable que se implementen cambios antes de 2027 a menos que la F1, la FIA y los 11 equipos acuerden por unanimidad; en ese caso, las nuevas normas de sprint podrían entrar en vigor ya en 2026.

      Mientras tanto, el promotor del GP de Estados Unidos, Bobby Epstein, dice que no está seguro de si los fines de semana de sprint incrementan de manera significativa la venta de entradas, aun cuando COTA ha decidido suprimir su sprint el próximo año.

      "Creo que los eventos sprint añaden valor a las entradas, así que estoy agradecido por ello", dijo Epstein a AS-Web. "No estoy seguro de si ha incrementado de forma significativa las ventas de entradas, pero a los aficionados parece gustarles."

      "No se vieron inmediatamente como un activo atractivo y no necesariamente aumentaron las ventas de entradas, pero añaden valor al ticket y ofrecen más a la gente, así que siempre los hemos valorado", afirmó.

      "Aún no sabemos si esto conducirá a un aumento de las ventas de entradas, pero si los espectadores pasan más tiempo en el circuito comprando pases de fin de semana, eso será bueno para nosotros."

      Epstein también admitió que el formato sprint puede no ser decisivo para los espectadores a la hora de elegir asistir.

      "No creo que nadie esté decidiendo si venir a un Gran Premio en función de si hay o no carrera sprint", dijo. "Aún no sabemos si es un factor significativo, pero puede que esté ganando peso. Tendremos que mirar los datos."

      Basándose en las cifras actuales, concluyó: "No hemos visto cambios significativos en términos de ventas o demanda, pero sí vemos un aumento en el valor de entretenimiento, y no hay duda de que eso es importante para nosotros."

      Williams F1

Otros artículos

Charles Leclerc: Me equivoqué y casi termino el sprint estrellándome contra el muro. En la salida del sprint en Austin, Charles Leclerc adelantó a Lewis Hamilton aprovechando el caos en la primera curva. Sin embargo, durante la carrera Charles salió fuera de los límites de la pista, lo que permitió a su compañero de equipo acercarse lo suficiente para atacar y adelantarle. Both Williams drivers scored points in Saturday’s sprint in Austin, so James Vowles is very pleased, and his joy is not even overshadowed by the fact that Alex Albon failed to make it into the second part of qualifying due to a track limits infringement. James Vowles, team principal: “A wonderful day for our team, as we scored another 9 points, and both drivers contributed to that. It was the first sprint in which we managed to get on the podium, and I’m proud of that. It’s also good that Carlos will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix from ninth. I think he’ll have the opportunity to move forward. In Alex’s case we’ve had differential problems on his car all weekend, and despite that he had a great sprint and finished sixth. The team did a great job on his car before qualifying, and the changes that were made were positive in nature, however the chassis balance changed noticeably. The car’s behavior became less predictable, and that led to Alex not being able to fully unlock the FW47’s potential. But I’m confident that overall the car is effective, and he will be able to make up positions.” Carlos Sainz (9th): “It was another successful day, and I’m pleased with how qualifying went. We executed cleanly, and the car was capable of a strong pace, but unfortunately the wind picked up for the final session and it became harder to drive. That said, ninth place is broadly in line with our performance. I’m in a confident mood ahead of tomorrow’s race, and I hope to put on a show that gives these wonderful fans another reason to cheer! Our job is to fight our way forward through the pack. I hope we can keep up with the cars starting from higher positions. And the ultimate goal is to score as many points for the team as possible, so we’ll be focusing on the race.” Alex Albon (19th): “The day started fairly normally, we had a good sprint, avoided trouble, gained a few positions and picked up a few points. Already on Friday we found that my car had differential problems, and before the sprint we couldn’t make setup changes in time, so in qualifying the car had completely different settings and balance. Now we need to analyze the telemetry data in detail, but I felt that the understeer was more pronounced than usual. Overall the changes were the right ones, but we should have worked on the setup for longer, and there was no time left for that. It’s a shame that my final quick lap was deleted due to going off track, as we should have at least made it into the second session. We’ll see how tomorrow unfolds.” Both Williams drivers scored points in Saturday’s sprint in Austin, so James Vowles is very pleased, and his joy is not even overshadowed by the fact that Alex Albon failed to make it into the second part of qualifying due to a track limits infringement. James Vowles, team principal: “A wonderful day for our team, as we scored another 9 points, and both drivers contributed to that. It was the first sprint in which we managed to get on the podium, and I’m proud of that. It’s also good that Carlos will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix from ninth. I think he’ll have the opportunity to move forward. In Alex’s case we’ve had differential problems on his car all weekend, and despite that he had a great sprint and finished sixth. The team did a great job on his car before qualifying, and the changes that were made were positive in nature, however the chassis balance changed noticeably. The car’s behavior became less predictable, and that led to Alex not being able to fully unlock the FW47’s potential. But I’m confident that overall the car is effective, and he will be able to make up positions.” Carlos Sainz (9th): “It was another successful day, and I’m pleased with how qualifying went. We executed cleanly, and the car was capable of a strong pace, but unfortunately the wind picked up for the final session and it became harder to drive. That said, ninth place is broadly in line with our performance. I’m in a confident mood ahead of tomorrow’s race, and I hope to put on a show that gives these wonderful fans another reason to cheer! Our job is to fight our way forward through the pack. I hope we can keep up with the cars starting from higher positions. And the ultimate goal is to score as many points for the team as possible, so we’ll be focusing on the race.” Alex Albon (19th): “The day started fairly normally, we had a good sprint, avoided trouble, gained a few positions and picked up a few points. Already on Friday we found that my car had differential problems, and before the sprint we couldn’t make setup changes in time, so in qualifying the car had completely different settings and balance. Now we need to analyze the telemetry data in detail, but I felt that the understeer was more pronounced than usual. Overall the changes were the right ones, but we should have worked on the setup for longer, and there was no time left for that. It’s a shame that my final quick lap was deleted due to going off track, as we should have at least made it into the second session. We’ll see how tomorrow unfolds.”

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Sainz: Haré todo lo posible para sumar puntos. El equipo Williams, con dos monoplazas, se clasificó para la final de la clasificación del sprint en Austin. Carlos Sainz y Alex Albon esperan sumar puntos en el sprint y repetir el resultado en la clasificación para la carrera principal del fin de semana.

Ahora las cosas se están poniendo complicadas para McLaren. Fórmula 1 | El resurgimiento de Max Verstappen en la recta final de la temporada cobró más impulso en Austin, donde ambos pilotos de McLaren se estrellaron y quedaron fuera en la primera vuelta del sprint - (…)