Why Imola’s sprint F1 weekend won’t suit Red Bull or Mercedes

F1’s controversial sprint qualifying format is back for this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

As a result, qualifying is moved to Friday afternoon after just one practice session, while the sprint race itself takes place on Saturday.

While the format has remained similar to last year, F1 has made several changes to try and appease fans but also to spice up the action in the shorter race on Saturday afternoon.

• Could Hamilton join Ferrari before he retires from F1?
• Is Sainz destined to support Leclerc’s F1 title bid?
• Why Imola is the biggest test of F1’s new regulations so far
• How F1's sprint qualifying format is different in 2022

Points are now being given out to the top eight finishers in the sprint, rather than just the top three, which should give drivers, particularly in the midfield, more incentive to go for overtakes.

The reduced practice time ahead of qualifying could prove critical this weekend with a number of teams wanting to bring upgrades to their cars as they all look to close in on current F1 pacesetters, Ferrari.

Ferrari is the team to beat with Charles Leclerc 34 points clear of Mercedes’ George Russell after the opening three races.

2021 title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have endured a tricky start to the year, with the latter failing to take the chequered flag on two occasions.

Red Bull’s upgrade risk

Even with just one practice session scheduled ahead of qualifying on Friday, Red Bull is expected to introduce a number of new parts as it looks to reduce the deficit to Ferrari.

Red Bull is understood to be targeting reducing the weight of its car, with the RB18 considerably overweight compared to the Ferrari.

Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko conceded that the team needs to ‘attack fully’ instead of waiting to introduce upgrades in a bid to close in on Ferrari.

"Ferrari has such a complex but easy to setup package," Marko told RTL. "For us, everything has to be correctly applied to be able to compete. That's why we're taking the risk of bringing new parts with only one practice session available.

"We want to attack fully and see this as our chance instead of waiting. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc are too strong for that."

With just one practice session, Red Bull will just have 60 minutes to validate their new upgrades.

Do they work as expected? Do they correlate with the wind tunnel? 

Red Bull will be in a race against time to understand whether the upgrades work and whether there is lap time to be gained at Imola.

Mercedes’ ‘spiteful’ F1 car

On the other hand, despite its performance deficit, Mercedes doesn’t plan to introduce significant upgrades to its W13 as it continues to understand why it is underperforming in 2022.

Seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton described in Australia how tricky his current car is to drive.

“The problem is, when you push that car just a little bit more, she’s quite spiteful. She’s like a viper or a rattlesnake,” Hamilton said after qualifying in Melbourne. 

With just 60 minutes ahead of qualifying, Mercedes will have very limited time to set up its car correctly.

Porpoising remains at the core of the W13’s problems and compromising the car setup has been a recurring theme for the eight-time world champions.

Whether Mercedes can get the car in the right window after just one practice session remains to be seen, particularly after how bad things went for Hamilton at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when he was knocked out in Q1.

Ferrari’s advantage 

Ferrari will not be phased by the sprint qualifying format this weekend with its F1-75 performing in all types of conditions and circuits.

Whether it's low-speed, medium-speed, high-speed, cool or hot temperatures, the Ferrari is right up there.

Ferrari’s confidence is highlighted by its decision to not introduce upgrades in the opening part of the season, even at the first European round of the season which historically has been when teams bring new parts.

“I think it will be a difficult weekend in the respect of bringing updates and trying to evaluate them in the Friday practice because obviously, you need to focus yourself on the quali in the afternoon,” Binotto explained after the Australian GP. “If we look at ourselves, there will not be much in Imola because again we believe it will not be the right place. 

“We try to mitigate the issues we have seen so far, the proposing and the bouncing that has affected our performance at the weekend. Again, we will try to work on that specific point but for the upgrades, and more let me say significant ones, it will be for later on in the season.”

F1 is data-driven and the size of Mercedes and Red Bull should mean they will cope and adapt with just one practice session ahead of qualifying.

However, their life isn’t being made any easier as they look to hunt down F1’s current pacesetters at Imola.