Seidl: F1’s sprint qualifying format should only be used at “specific events”

For the first time in F1’s history, it ran a 100km sprint race on the Saturday at Silverstone to determine the grid for the grand prix.

The format was met with varying opinions, with F1 confirming that it will be trialled again at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.

Seidl doesn’t think the format should be used at every grand prix weekend.

“I think it’s good we have this trial for three weekends and then like I said yesterday, it’s good to take our time with the fans, our partners, all the teams , F1, FIA to analyse exactly how this weekend when and then make conclusions based on that,” Seidl said.

“It’s only an initial view but I think it’s a good idea to only use it at specific events and tracks  for let’s say a different format. So I don’t see for example this as the standard for all weekends.”

Charles Leclerc performed strongly in the sprint and his performance carried over into the grand prix - something McLaren expected.

“To be honest I would say, it played out in terms of strategy and tyres the way we had anticipated,” Seidl added. “The sprint race in the end gave a good picture of where everyone was in terms of race pace yesterday, it was obvious to see already that Charles was very, very strong. 

“We couldn’t beat him yesterday and the same happened today so I would say no big surprises and no big learnings from the sprint that changed anything for the race today.”

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said that it’s too early to judge the new format but conceded F1 needs to look at making Saturday morning more entertaining given that the second practice session at Silverstone was pointless because cars were under parc ferme conditions.

“I think after the first one it is a bit early to decide,” Binotto explained. “I think we need a bit longer to digest it. I think there are things that could certainly be improved like what could be done for Saturday morning, make it a bit more relevant. I also think the numbers from the TV audience will be important. I don’t think you can have a final judgement right now, I think you need to wait for the two more opportunities to have a better picture. I think that the race, the mini race or the sprint quali was a bit strange for me but as I said we need to digest.”