F1 pundit urges the sport’s hierarchy to tweak Sprint format after Lewis Hamilton’s COTA disqualification

Lewis Hamilton lost out on a truckload of points becuase of the plank wear infringement on his W14.

F1 pundit urges the sport’s hierarchy to tweak Sprint format after Lewis Hamilton’s COTA disqualification

Lewis Hamilton. (Credits: Imago)

The 2023 United States Grand Prix is done and dusted, but it has still been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified at the end of the main race, and amidst all the fuss around it, F1 Analyst Martin Brundle has made it known that the sport needs to tweak the Sprint format.

Martin Brundle thinks that during Sprint weekends, the various F1 teams are under a lot of pressure, and this leads to the creation of unnecessary problems for the teams. He ardently feels the teams are tied regarding setup during the Sprint weekends.

The Sky F1 analyst believes that the sprint race format has put the team under much pressure, and the teams are frustrated. He pointed out that the limited practice session before the Parc Ferme rules caused the teams to become under-prepared. Certain tracks like Qatar and COTA make it much harder to teams.

FS Video
There's no doubt that the Sprint format events put the teams under a lot of pressure, and overall, we don't get particularly positive feedback from them. With just one practice session before the specification and set-up is locked in by Parc Fermė rules, especially at a relatively unknown circuit like Losail in Qatar or a bumpy circuit such as COTA in Austin, this leaves them underprepared.
Brundle said in his Sky Sports F1 colum.

While pointing at the fact that Aston Martin Haas F1 drivers started the race at the pit lane, Brundle says that it’s proof that the sprint weekend is wasting teams’ valuable resources and skills. He insists that the sprint format jeopardizes the team’s ultimate pace. 

And there's the first question: do we want the jeopardy and variability of some teams missing their ultimate pace, or is this wasting the resource and skills of teams and drivers in a 'not very F1' manner? We had 20 percent of the field starting the main Sunday race from the pit lane, in the form of both Aston Martins and both Haas cars, because they were better breaking out of Parc Fermė and trying for a more competitive race set up.

Lewis Hamilton ran a terrific race at the Circuit of the Americas

While Martin Brundle wants F1 to look at its rules around the Sprint format after the US GP, Lewis Hamilton was the driver who lost out on a massive chunk of points because of the technical breach. He delivered a brilliant race in his W14 and at one point, was in the hunt to secure the win at Austin.

Lewis Hamilton (Credits: RaceFans.Net)
Lewis Hamilton (Credits: RaceFans.Net)

During the 56-lap race, the 38-year-old was put under massive pressure from the lights of Lando Norris, but despite this fact, he was able to hold his own, and his move during the closing stages of the race on Norris for second place stole the show. The Brit had an outing to remember in Austin.

However, while the race ended on a strong note, what happened afterward is something he would want to get out of his system as soon as possible. A plank wear infringement caused Hamilton to lose out on massive points, and considering his situation in the 2023 drivers’ standings, he can’t afford such errors during the remaining races.

In case you missed it: