© Sebastian Kawka for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix ltd.
While Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas seem to not be fans of the sprint qualifying concept, they both agree “it’s nice to have more races”.
Formula 1 tried out the qualifying sprint race concept at the British Grand Prix, and afterwards Hamilton and Bottas were asked if they enjoyed it.
“I can’t say I particularly enjoyed it too much – but it’s nice to have more races for sure,” Hamilton said.
“It’s another race start, which is naturally always quite nice, and a bit of extra racing,” Bottas agreed.
“For me it hasn’t really changed the weekend so much. I qualified third, it’s third today and still the same starting place for tomorrow.
“But I hope people enjoyed it,” concluded the Finn.
They were then asked which format they enjoyed more – the classic qualifying of Friday, or the sprint race on Saturday?
“Yeah, yesterday was enjoyable the way it was set up, I think, which was the one session and straight into qualifying,” Lewis said.
“In my opinion, it only needs to be a Saturday and Sunday weekend, that means we have one whole day less, 23 days actually less of driving these cars around the track and obviously that would be better in terms of going more green.
“Today’s been kind of… it’s been a… I think it’s because it’s so difficult for us to pass and unfortunately with these cars you need pit stops and strategy to help sometimes coming to place, otherwise it’s so hard to get close.”
If you like SilverArrows.Net, consider supporting us by buying us a coffee!
Ultimately, the Briton gives an idea on how the sprint races could be done in the future.
“It’s always nice doing more races that’s for sure, but tomorrow we’ve only got one event, right?
“It’s almost like they should almost do the sprint race on the Sunday and the race because there could be a lot of sitting around for people tomorrow,” concluded the seven-time champion.
Bottas says he definitely enjoys the classic qualifying format more.
“If I would choose which I enjoyed more, I would say Friday,” the Finn said.
“I really enjoy qualifying and that feeling of pushing the car to the limit on a single lap.
“Obviously was a nice thing to try, get another start, but the same lines with Lewis, yeah, definitely enjoyed maybe yesterday a bit more.
“But it’s still good fun, you know, racing with these cars against the best drivers on this amazing track in front of all the fans, it’s nice, but I’m just already looking forward to tomorrow for the main event,” concluded Bottas.
