Is F1 Sprint Mercedes’ Last Shot At 2021 Title?

An all new qualifying format coupled with upgrades to the car might be Mercedes and Hamilton’s only chance to keep Verstappen and Red Bull within touching distance this season

Ravin Batra

This week's race at Silverstone marks the return of capacity crowds to Formula 1 for the first time since 2019. The ever-passionate British fans will be treated to a weekend like never before, with the first of F1’s three trial weekends for sprint qualifying taking place at the most historic track in the sport. Friday will see only one practice session with drivers needing to optimise their set-ups for a typical three-part qualifying later that evening. The cars will be placed under parc ferme conditions overnight, and be released for an hour-long FP2 session on Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening sees the debut of the much awaited, much debated 100 kilometers (17 laps around Silverstone) sprint race which will set the grid for a typical Grand Prix on Sunday. The top three finishers in the sprint race will earn 3, 2 and 1 championship points respectively.

Debated over the winter and announced just this spring, F1 sprint is another experiment that the sport’s management is trialling to make racing more competitive and conducive for the fans. The biggest complaint that F1 viewers have had over the course of the turbo-hybrid era has been the predictability of the pecking order and a lack of wheel to wheel racing. With a sprint race on Saturday, fans will be able to enjoy 30 minutes of fast paced, non-stop action- and a high possibility of a jumbled up grid on Sunday- setting the scene for some quality racing at the showpiece event that is the Grand Prix. F1 Sprint’s debut also coincides with the launch of the 2022 spec cars that have been aerodynamically designed to reduce loss of downforce for following cars, increase tyre-wear and support sustainable racing. Next year will also see a continuation of regulation changes including cost-caps and wind-tunnel testing time limits that have already shown substance in this year's championships. With F1 all set to dive into a new era- this could quite possibly be the most exciting one yet.

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 had all but monopolised the turbo-hybrid era. 2021 however, has been a difficult year for the defending champions and their star driver- Lewis Hamilton. With Red Bull and Max Verstappen throwing up a challenge like never before, the Toto Wolff led team has been left contemplating how much to improve the W12 (a continuation of the W11 that dominated last year) with the fear that time invested developing this years challenge is time lost creating next years car. Hamilton led the championship up until the Monaco GP, from which Red Bull has won each of the 5 races, with title contender Verstappen winning 4 of them. Now trailing by 32 points, this week’s new format might just be a blessing in disguise for the knighted Brit. Having published a report on black representation in British motorsport through the Hamilton Commission, the 7 time champ comes into his home grand prix with a sense of optimism. “This sprint race we have, this new format. It is easy for any of us to get it wrong but there are opportunities there, which is exciting.”

With a total of 29 points up for grabs, a successful weekend could see the defending champions get right back into the heat of the fight. Sprint qualifying is bound to bring some radical surprises and anything could happen. The countdown to lights out has begun.