The Grand Prix ofAzerbaijan will host the first Sprint weekend of the six planned this season, but with a format revised compared to what we have come to know by now. Changing the regulations in progress is not a practice we particularly like, but we still try to clarify and let's see what happens to Fanta F1 and al regulation with the arrival of new format.
A continuous experiment
In its third year of application, the Sprint experiment can be said to have succeeded, or at least according to Liberty Media's plans. Public opinion is still skeptical, and for this very reason the format, despite being new in itself, is constantly evolving. The new Sprint weekend, which doubles this year with ben 6 appointments, includes a single free practice session on Friday which will be followed by qualifying – valid for establishing the starting grid for Sunday. Saturday will be totally dedicated to the Sprint race which will have separate qualifications. The outcome of the Sprint will have no repercussions in terms of positions on the Sunday starting grid but will be considered as a separate race.
On the one hand there is the satisfaction of having given meaning back to Friday's qualifying, on the other the concern of the limited time available to test the single-seaters and any problems. A situation that could turn out to be very chaotic but above all dangerous considering the pitfalls of a track such as Baku in which the many scheduled updates have been somewhat put aside.
What changes to the Fanta F1
But in all this what changes to the Fanta F1? In reality, little changes in Fanta F1 optics. The only item in the regulation that will undergo a change is the one it concerns the positions lost or gained with respect to the starting grid. On weekends Sprints will no longer be calculated based on Saturday's grid, but based on the Sunday grid. Just like every weekend.
A novelty in the format that we will see in Baku is that of the double qualification. But this will not affect the Fanta F1. Indeed, qualifying on Saturday will not give additional points. Unlike Friday's qualifying which, as usual, awards 0,1 or 3 points, over and above those of Pole. The Sprint points allocation system also remains unchanged, which provides points for the first 8 classified.
