Oct.11 (GMM) Isack Hadjar has questioned why Formula 1 persists with Sprint races at circuits such as Singapore and Monaco after a disastrous weekend in the second Red Bull.
Hadjar struggled with an “undriveable” car and engine issues in Sprint qualifying, retired from the Sprint with a power unit problem, and then suffered a gearbox failure in Grand Prix qualifying – all while teammate Max Verstappen dominates.
“For me, that’s the problem with this kind of weekend,” Hadjar said.
“With Sprints, you can’t work on the car. It’s just impossible.”
He is even less convinced by the decision to introduce a Monaco Sprint in 2027.
“I don’t know who is making these decisions,” said the Frenchman, who only recently returned to the cockpit after his wrist injury.
“How the hell do you think that will go? What do you think is going to happen? Do you think there’s going to be overtaking? No. No. No.
“So why are we doing it?”
Toto Wolff has another theory for Hadjar’s struggles, noting that Verstappen’s resurgence appears to have coincided with the old pattern of the second Red Bull becoming harder to exploit.
“You know what’s interesting?” he told Sky Deutschland. “Now that the car is getting faster for Max, the car seems to be getting less fast or efficient for his teammate.
“Maybe Max has found the sweet spot of the car again,” the Mercedes boss added.
Hadjar, however, is not alone in questioning the Sprint calendar.
Lewis Hamilton said Singapore’s wet Sprint was only entertaining because of the weather.
“If it was dry, that would have been probably the most boring race for you to have watched,” said the Ferrari driver.
Verstappen, a longstanding critic of the format, agreed.
“We shouldn’t host a Sprint where you can’t pass,” he said.
Charles Leclerc went further.
“I don’t think it makes sense to have any Sprint races on city tracks in general,” he said. “Here or Monaco, I don’t think it adds anything to the weekend.”
Fernando Alonso also thinks the format needs work, but joked that he will keep his own solutions private.
“The problem is that the teams have all the power to vote against any idea,” said the Spaniard. “Every time an innovative idea or format comes up, the top teams find out immediately and want it to be as boring as possible to secure points.”
When asked specifically what he would change, Alonso smiled: “I can’t comment on that. Only when I retire.”
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