Why social media backlash isn’t swaying F1 on sprint race future

Feedback to Formula 1's introduction of sprint races in the echo chamber of social media has largely been lukewarm to negative. But that won't stop F1 bosses pressing on with its plans, with Ross Brawn hoping that it can continue to attract a younger demographic without switching off F1's hardcore base

While race promoters are all falling over themselves to convince Formula 1's bosses to award them sprint races in 2022, such a consensus is not shared by fans. Indeed, while Liberty Media has consistently bigged up the fact that the sprint qualifying experiments have been an overwhelmingly popular success, a quick scan of social media relating to any mention of the new format shows there are still many who don't like it.

Post a story about sprint races, and the majority of responses and comments are negative. At best, most appear to be lukewarm to the concept even though the sprints have certainly served to add drama to the British and Italian Grands Prix weekends this year.

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Author Jonathan Noble

Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.

Jonathan has won multiple awards for journalism - in 1991 he was the winner of the Guild of Motoring Writers’ Sir William Lyons’ Award for young journalists, in 2010 he was awarded the Outstanding Individual accolade for consumer journalism in the Haymarket wards, in 2011 he won Haymarket’s Scoop of the Year, and in 2018 he was awarded a prestigious Medaglia d’Oro at the Lorenzo Bandini Awards for his contribution to F1 journalism.