In 2022, the concept of a ‘Sprint’ championship was nearly pointless with only three races. However, this year, we experienced – or endured, depending on your perspective – a total of six events.
Max Verstappen showcased his relentless dominance, keeping his foot on the gas pedal right until the final lap in Brazil, making the entire grid feel his power.
Although Formula 1 doesn’t officially sanction a ‘Sprint’ championship, we’ve taken the liberty of calculating who would have emerged as the champion if it were in place.
In 2022, the limited number of races made the idea almost inconsequential. Yet, in the current year, we witnessed a series of six exciting events. Oscar Piastri delivered a surprise victory at the Qatar GP Sprint, and Pierre Gasly also secured a top-three finish at the Belgian GP.
The key themes
The main themes that emerged from analyzing the results were quite intriguing. George Russell exhibited a recurring pattern of finishes, consistently securing eighth and fourth positions throughout the season.
Among the drivers, only three managed to consistently score points in every sprint race, namely George Russell, Max Verstappen, and Carlos Sainz.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, displayed a tendency to finish in seventh place during sprint races, achieving this result on three occasions and missing out on scoring points just once.
In the final analysis, only two teams failed to accumulate any points. AlphaTauri narrowly escaped joining that group in the last event in Brazil, thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s critical sixth-place finish, which aided their quest for eighth place in the constructors’ championship.
Who struggled in 2023?
The lower end of the standings didn’t yield many surprises, but it’s worth noting Esteban Ocon’s challenges in the sprint races, as he finished 15th in the sprint standings.
Although Nico Hulkenberg had a strong start to the year, Haas couldn’t manage to secure a single point in the sprint races after their promising sixth-place finish in the initial race of the format in Austria.
Despite facing its fair share of criticism, it appears that the format is here to stay for 2024 and beyond, as the FIA is considering minor adjustments to the weekend structure for the next year.
With that in mind, let’s proceed to examine which drivers accumulated the highest number of points over the course of the six F1 sprint races during the season.
F1 Sprint Standings
1st – Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 45 Points
2nd – Sergio Perez (Red Bull) – 25 Points
3rd – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 22 Points
4th – Lando Norris (McLaren) – 21 Points
5th – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 21 Points
6th – George Russell (Mercedes) – 18 Points
7th – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) -17 Points
8th – Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 15 Points
9th – Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 8 Points
10th – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 8 Points
11th – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 6 Points
12th – Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – 3 Points
13th – Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) – 3 Points
14th – Alex Albon (Williams) – 2 Points
15th – Esteban Ocon (Alpine) – 2 Points
16th – Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri) – 0 Points
17th – Kevin Magnussen (Haas) – 0 Points
18th – Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) – 0 Points
19th – Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) – 0 Points
20th – Logan Sargeant (Williams) – 0 Points
