Leclerc: "A World Championship race cannot be devalued by a sprint race"

@Charles_Leclerc

F1 News

27 February 2021 at 10:17
Last update 27 February 2021 at 12:37
  • GPblog.com

For some time now there have been talks about sprint races. F1 has now decided to test sprint racing during the GP weekends of Canada, Italy and Brazil. Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz hope it will not take anything away from the actual Grand Prix.

Grand Prix must be the main event

To create extra excitement during race weekends, Formula 1 is evaluating the options of holding a sprint race on Saturday. The idea is not yet finalised, but the sprint races seem to take place during three different race weekends in 2021.

Leclerc calls the idea of a sprint race interesting and also thinks that ideas like this should be tried. "But we have to look, for example, at how much we do in terms of World Championship points", he says according to SpeedWeek.com. In addition, the race on Sunday must remain the main event according to the Monegasque. "A World Championship race cannot be devalued by a sprint race."

The perfect moment to test

Team-mate Sainz joins Leclerc in believing the idea should be tried at least once. "But I agree with Charles. A Grand Prix has to remain something very special. Will that still be the case if we have two winners in one weekend?" He does see 2021 as the ideal year to carry out such tests. That way F1 can do the right things for 2022 Sainz thinks.