Formula 1 has confirmed which six venues will hold sprint races during the 2023 season.
Baku City Circuit will host the first sprint race of 2023 in April during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. The Red Bull Ring, which also held a sprint race this year, will host the second at July’s Austrian Grand Prix.The Belgian Grand Prix, which will take place before rather than after the summer break next year, is to be the venue for the third sprint race of the year. The Spa-Francorchamps sprint event will also take place in July.
The remaining three sprint races take place outside of Europe. First up is returning F1 venue Losail, with a sprint race being held on October 7th before F1’s second Qatar Grand Prix. It is understood that Losail’s sprint race slot was only recently finalised as it had been considered to instead have F1’s Middle East sprint race run in Jeddah at March’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
With the Circuit of the Americas next up on the calendar two weeks later, it means there will be two sprint race events in a row.
The final sprint race will once again be at the Brazilian Grand Prix, on November 4th, with Interlagos having also held a sprint race in 2021 and ‘22.
F1’s decision-making for choosing the six venues followed “research to calculate the most suitable tracks for the F1 Sprint format including overtaking opportunities, close racing and high-speed sections”.
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Red Andy (@red-andy)
7th December 2022, 12:04
Like Interlagos, Spa will only produce a good sprint race if there’s a mixed-up grid due to rain on the Friday. The rest are almost guaranteed snooze-fests.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
7th December 2022, 12:10
@red-andy We haven’t had a good Spa race since 2018. Even this year’s race, with a jumbled-up grid, became a dominant walkover.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
7th December 2022, 14:34
@wsrgo It will continue to produce poor, predictable races until they remove or significantly reduce DRS down the Kemmel straight. As it is, faster cars are guaranteed to return to their expected position based on pure pace because overtaking is a slam dunk.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
7th December 2022, 15:34
@keithedin Yeah that DRS is unnecessary. The Raidillion to Combs section is long enough to cause slipstream moves. If nothing else, DRS zones should be halved in straights which were already good for overtaking.
Jere (@jerejj)
8th December 2022, 11:18
@wsrgo Halving on some of these straights would mean pointlessly short activation zones, so not an activation zone at all would be a more fitting choice.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th December 2022, 12:33
I guess this mostly means that we have 2 shots at actually getting ANY racing at Spa this year @red-andy, @wsrgo!
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
7th December 2022, 12:13
Sprint “Press DRS, overtake” Races.
Martin Elliott
7th December 2022, 12:15
Research to calculate the best …….
Implies a mathematical decision algorithm.
That would be a very interesting ‘Research Report’ to see like so many FIA/F1 decisions since 2014.
Craig
7th December 2022, 14:54
That last paragraph underlines why sprint races are so ridiculous. Also goes to show they’re not interested in certain research, such as how unpopular they are.
KaIIe (@kaiie)
7th December 2022, 15:34
Interesting that they chose Qatar. The track wasn’t the greatest in terms of racing (especially when looking at the other ones on this list), then again, it was just one race so it might be a bit early to judge. While the front stretch at Losail is rather long, the previous generation of F1 cars had a rather short braking zone into T1, and the rest of the track is follow-the-leader type stuff. Hopefully with the new cars they can follow through the last sector easier.
davidhunter13 (@davidhunter13)
7th December 2022, 15:41
I’m glad Interlagos still gets it. Honestly the only track where it really seems to work (for me anyway, I know how you all feel).
M
7th December 2022, 20:09
It ‘worked’ because it rained and there was a mixed up grid, but then it simply stole from the GP.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
7th December 2022, 22:24
Looks like for the first time ever I’ll be missing watching Spa’s event next year.
I made a decision when these abominations started that the only thing one could do to make their point to Liberty was so refuse to participate in any part of a sprint weekend.
Spa is one of my favourite races – it’s a great pity that I’ll miss it but the ONLY way Liberty will listen is if people remove support by not watching.
David
8th December 2022, 14:35
Unless you’re cancelling the way you watch F1 in order to reduce their revenue, unfortunately your gesture is completely meaningless and won’t change a thing. You may as well just watch it if you like it so much.
I admire your intent and it makes sense when your boycott is tangible, like not visiting a store you don’t like.
GeeMac (@geemac)
8th December 2022, 5:19
Argh…
Diez Cilindros (@diezcilindros)
8th December 2022, 7:30
I think we all are still a bit unsure about this thing, I am not going to repeat myself.
But there is one thing that still surprises me: why is the FIA playing around again with the idea of a championshipo being decided on a Saturday? Three of the sprints are located within the final six races of the season: there is a non-negligible chance for a championship to be decided on a Sprint. Does F1 want this? It will hurt TV data for the next day, and I think it is even bad for the drivers and the teams: you win, but you cannot celebrate like crazy because tomorrow there is still a race to contest. No long celebration nights for drivers, mechanics, team members… and main race will have half the interest and TV figures will note that.
S
8th December 2022, 7:47
I guess the extension to that question is: Why would the FIA allow the championship to be decided prior to the final event.
It’s no different.
And people still watch the GP’s after the championship’s been decided, don’t they…
Jere (@jerejj)
8th December 2022, 11:37
Ironically, Jeddah Corniche Circuit might actually be a better choice for Sprint racing quality-wise than Losail International Circuit, but otherwise, decent choices.
Gregg Placas
8th December 2022, 23:21
sprint races are a waste of time. they get points but the real racing is on Sunday
S
9th December 2022, 9:28
Sometimes. But not often enough.
And even when it is, it’s usually pretty poor.