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F1 reveals Monza schedule including 18 lap sprint races


F1 reveals Monza schedule including 18-lap sprint race

F1 held its first 100km sprint race on Saturday at Silverstone last week at the British Grand Prix as part of a refresh to the race weekend format.

While it was well known that Monza would host the second sprint race, F1 had shied away from official confirmation until Thursday night when it revealed the schedule for the event on its website.

As seen at Silverstone last week, the introduction of the sprint race on Saturday has resulted in a number of other changes to the weekend schedule, including a late Friday qualifying.

The one-hour opening training session begins at 2:30 p.m. local time in Monza, before qualifying takes place between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21 and the rest of the field

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Despite the criticism from some fans of the decision to do a meaningless second training session as the Parc Ferme rules had already been established, FP2 will run on Saturday from 12pm to 1pm.

The sprint race in Monza – over 18 laps of the 5.793 km long circuit – then starts at 4:30 p.m. and is expected to end by 5:00 p.m.

The 53-lap Grand Prix on Sunday then starts at 3 p.m. local time.

Monza will host the second of three trial sprint races in 2021. Although F1 originally targeted Interlagos in Brazil as the venue for the final sprint race, F1 has left the door open for a move to another flyaway event later this year.

The first F1 sprint race resulted in a mixed reaction from fans and drivers, with the highlight of the 17-lap Silverstone event being Fernando Alonso’s chase from 11th to fifth on the first lap.

One of the biggest points of contention for the fans was the decision to give the winner of the sprint race the “pole position” and not the driver who finished the qualifying fastest on Friday.

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Lewis Hamilton led Q3 for Mercedes on Friday night, but it was Max Verstappen who won the sprint race for Red Bull after overtaking his title rival on the first lap.

After the sprint race, Verstappen admitted that it felt “weird” to have taken pole position after a sprint race: “I think you should still earn pole position for a fast lap. For me, that’s a real pole position. “

F1 Motorsport General Manager Ross Brawn admitted that “it may be something we need to think about.”

“We’ll talk and discuss things like that with the FIA ​​and the teams, but I think we can’t hold back from history,” said Brawn.

“I mean, we have to respect history, but we must never let history hold us back.”

The post F1 reveals Monza schedule including 18 lap sprint races first appeared on monter-une-startup.