Despite Supporting F1’s New Format, Lando Norris Put on the Backfoot After McLaren’s Tactical Decision

By now, we have all been caught up with the confusing, impulsively introduced yet exciting sprint race weekend format. Instead of three, the sprint weekend will witness four action-packed events with significant implications. From the outside looking in, it’s just one extra event during the race weekend. However, upon a closer look at the rules and regulations for the sprint weekend implied by the FIA, there is a lot more than meets the eye. This fine print is exactly what might put McLaren’s Lando Norris on the back foot during the sprint shootout.

The Brit voiced his support for the highly demanding but “better format” leading up to the qualifying. In fact, the McLaren men even performed well above expectations compared to the abysmal first three races of the season. Heading to the sprint qualifier, as reported by Motorsport-Nextgen-Auto, Norris will not be able to repeat the heroics from yesterday thanks to the fine print.

Let’s talk about the fine print first. As we are all aware, teams get three sets of dry-weather tires for a race weekend. Depending on the track, teams can make any combination of soft, medium, and hard compound tires to tackle the weekend. This is where FIA’s fine print is hampering Norris’s weekend.

In the FIA’s ruling, the teams are only allowed to use new medium compounds during the first two sessions of the sprint qualifying (SQ1 &SQ2). For SQ3, the teams can only use new soft slicks. Now, McLaren has “consciously” used all their nine soft slicks during Friday’s qualifying sessions.

This aspect will effectively rule Norris out of the SQ1 if he makes it.

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If the Friday qualifying is proof of anything, the McLaren men are more than capable of making it to SQ3. However, the Brit might not have to face this scenario, which is affecting another driver, come next Sprint weekend.

The FIA tried to close the tire loophole affecting Lando Norris but it was too late

The FIA, after introducing the new weekend formate on Tuesday, realized there is a loophole in the fine print. The governing body tried to close this loophole with a vote on Friday, but the teams voted against it.

There is an understanding the teams needed time to fully understand the consequences before making lasting decisions. However, this delayed decision will definitely put Norris and even AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda on the back foot.

To validate the vote, eight teams out of the ten need to be in agreement with the proposed change. This wasn’t the case during this weekend. However, the governing body is planning to change the rule before the next sprint.

Until then, if both Norris and Tsunoda qualify for SQ3, they will have to sit out. With both making it to Q3 in the Friday qualifying session and the car settings locked in place, there is a high possibility of this scenario coming to pass.

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Do you presume this is a tactic to preserve the engineers and tires for the all-important race from the teams or just poor luck?