F1 | 2023 F1 Sprint Race Results Summary & Stats Review

The 2023 F1 season still has two grands prix to go, but the six Sprint races have been run and won (mostly by Max Verstappen) and why not stop and smell the shortened roses of the cut-down F1 spectacle with our 2023 F1 Sprint Race Results Summary & Stats Review.

Full of opinion. stats and results, our 2023 F1 Sprint Race Results Summary & Stats Review should cover a lot of the six Sprint Races held in the 2023 F1 season.

Was it all worth it?

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Short answer is no. The long answer is no too, with an explanation below.

Aside from a first victory for Oscar Piastri, who looked as underwhelmed about sprint race as the F1 fans despite winning, who can remember a memorable moment from the sprint races. 

The racing after the first few corners is usually stale, and who could blame the drivers and teams to risk their cars for under half the points. 

And when Max Verstappen won the World Championship after a sprint race, with an already low-key presentation post-race, it made an underwhelming championship that little bit more meh. A championship should be won with all the podium trimmings. Not jsut just hanging around and getting a metal block.

What has improved the show is qualifying becoming closer, with McLaren zooming up the performance ladder and genuinely challenging for the front row and better. Ferrari and Mercedes have improved too, making sure Max Verstappen is not getting his own way in qualifying. Since Round 10, there have been six drivers from three teams sharing the front row with Max Verstappen, and occasionally taking pole position. None of those six drivers are Sergio Perez for the record.

So if we just leave F1 alone, the gap will close, and qualifying will continue the great progress seen in the latter half of 2023 then that may give F1 a chance to improve the show for the main race and maybe Sprint Races won’t be needed at all.

What’s the future of Sprint Races?

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There’s been lots of talk about what to do with Sprint Races, and the consensus is that nothing is not a great idea. 

First of all, less is more. We don’t need six, and certainly don’t need more. Look at the Moto GP, if you have non stop sprint races you dilute the main race day and potentially divide the interest. Three to four – evenly spaced is the right idea. No back to back or three in four races.

Next up, get the tracks right. The Belgian Grand Prix is a masterpiece of F1 circuitry, which should be enjoyed in full on the Sunday. It is not a sprint race venue. Get tracks where action always happen. The F1 bosses do actually have a bundle of the right tracks – Brazil, Austria and Azerbaijan – tracks where stuff usually happens and overtaking is easier than usual. And maybe that’s all we need just those three, spread nicely across the season. No point having a track where there’s very little overtaking then have a format where drivers take fewer risks for fewer points.

Talk of reverse grid isn’t the answer. Those gimmicks belong in lower formula, not the leading motor sport category in the world. F1 can’t let mediocrity be rewarded or have anything too artificial.

So what would we do? Thanks for asking, we have a few ideas.

First of all, given all the new investment partners, and the greedy F1 bosses love money (refer Andretti F1 application), get someone to put up $10M/$20M prizemoney for the Sprint Race Championship. And maybe the FIA could throw in a 5% allowance for the cost cap to make it really worth the team’s effort. Money makes the F1 teams go round, so give them what they want, with a little prestige of a trophy.

A second thought, is why have a sprint race? Why not a double header instead. Two full races, worth full World Championship points. Maybe that will be too big a stress on the drivers and teams, so maybe reduce the races to 60-75%, but make them even, and make them full points. With the Saturday result flowing on to the Sunday race starting order.

A final idea that may mix up the grid but keeps the Sprint Races in the current format is to make the Sprint Shoot Out a one lap blast. Qualifying order is set by the Free Practice session on the Friday to make that session mean something too. So rather than same old, same old qualifying, a one lap blast opens up potential mixing of grid by punishing mistakes while still rewarding the best. And even M<ax Verstappen hasn’t been perfect over every qualifying lap this season.

2023 F1 Sprint Race Results Summary

SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP (Based on Points awarded)

AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

AUSTRIA GRAND PRIX

BELGIAN GRAND PRI

QATAR GRAND PRIX

US GRAND PRIX

BRAZIL GRAND PRIX

2023 F1 Sprint Race Stats

Here are the most interesting stats we could find from the 2023 F1 Sprint Races this season.

SPRINT RACE QUALIFYING x SPRINT RACE FINISHING POSITION

SPRINT QUALIFYING AVERAGE POSITION

AVERAGE SPRINT RACE FINISHING POSITION

SPRINT RACE RESULT GAIN/LOSS FROM SPRINT QUALIFYING POSITION

SPRINT QUALIFYING VS REGULAR QUALIFYING

OUR DRIVER OF THE YEAR RANKING – SPRINT RACES ONLY

If you haven’t read one of our Race Ratings reviews, then we assign points for various things during an F1 weekends, and below is the total of those points from the Sprint Races.